UtH.tL. 

CALIFORNIA 
SAN  BIEGO 


J 


err 
/n 


THE 


namkl  Merchant: 


£$&* 


SKETCHES 


LIFE  OF  MR.  SAMUEL  BUDGETT, 


LATE  OF    KIXGSWOOD    Hill 


BY    WILLIAM    ARTHUR,    A.M. 


jKTeni-Bork : 

PUBLISHED   BY   CARLTON   &   PHILLIPS, 


S  0  0    MULBERRY- STB  E  F.  T 

1853. 


PREFACE. 


On  the  clay  that  Mr.  Budgett  died  I  was  in 
Bristol,  staying-  with  one  whose  heart  was  that 
day  full.  He  who  had  just  departed  was 
naturally  the  subject  of  conversation,  and  the 
incidents  of  his  early  life  were  freely  talked 
over.  Just  then  the  prospect  of  a  long  in- 
voluntary leisure  was  before  me ;  and  designs 
for  improving  it  by  literary  occupation  were 
already  formed.  But  as  the  uncommon  his- 
tory of  the  deceased  merchant  was  discussed, 
the  thought  arose  that  to  make  it  the  subject 
of  a  commercial  biography  Avould  be  the  most 
useful  application  of  the  expected  leisure. 
This  design  was  more  homely  than  those  origi- 
nally entertained,  and,  at  first,  not  very  wel- 
come ;  but  after  some  time  spent  in  silently- 


IV  PREFACE. 

observing  and  inquiring,  the  conviction  of  its 
superior  usefulness  was  confirmed. 

I  therefore  ventured  to  request  permission 
from  the  family  to  acquaint  myself  with  all 
the  accessible  details  of  his  life,  and  to  pre- 
pare them  for  the  public  in  the  form  which 
had  suggested  itself  to  me.  The  request  was 
unexpected,  but  was  kindly  met ;  and  without 
a  trace  of  the  vulgar  reluctance  to  allude  to 
the  earlier  stages  of  a  remarkable  rise,  every 
particular  was  communicated  and  freely  left 
at  my  disposal.  A  strong  desire,  indeed,  was 
manifested  to  lay  me  under  restraint  as  to 
anything  which  might  be  construed  into  busi- 
ness display  ;  but  my  design  required  freedom 
to  show  what  Mr.  Budgett  had  attained,  and 
that  I  was  obliged  to  use. 

I  saw  him  carried  to  his  grave,  and  that 
day  conversed  with  numbers  of  his  neighbors 
and  his  men,  none  knowing  my  intentions. 
At  long  intervals,  such  conversations  were  re- 
peated with  many  who  had  known  him  closely ; 


TKEFACE.  v 

and  certainly  very  seldom  has  a  master  been 
portrayed  so  much  "by  the  hand  of  his  own 
men,  or  a  citizen  by  that  of  his  neighbors,  as 
in  the  following  pages. 

Biographers,  like  portrait  painters,  are  a 
suspected  race:  it  is  generally  taken  for 
granted  that  they  paint  men  as  they  ought  to 
be ;  while  to  the  historian  you  must  look  for 
the  delineation  of  men  as  they  are.  How  far 
the  infirmity  of  the  race  besets  me  would  not 
be  discussed  impartially  just  here  ;  but  it  may 
fairly  be  said  that,  in  the  picture  you  are 
asked  to  look  upon,  an  effort  has  been  made 
to  insert,  with  a  firm  hand,  every  real  scar. 
Some  will  say  they  are  too  slight ;  others  will 
say  they  are  too  deep,  and  these  they  who 
most  intimately  knew  the  original. 

The  design  of  this  volume  is  to  furnish  a 
work  wherein  an  actual  and  a  remarkable  life 
is  traced  in  relation  to  commerce.  It  was 
never  meant  to  enlarge  the  knowledge  of  the 
scholar,  to  mature  the  graces  of  the  holy,  or 


vi  PREFACE. 

to  hallow  the  retirement  of  the  contemplative  ; 
hut  to  he  a  friendly,  familiar  booh  for  the  busy, 
to  which  men  from  the  counting-house  or  the 
shop  might  turn,  feeling  that  it  concerned 
them,  and  for  which  they  might  possibly  he 
the  better  here  and  hereafter.  Beyond  this, 
one  hope  did  arise, — that  it  might  perhaps 
meet  the  eye  of  some  whose  leisure,  abilities, 
and  spirit  would  fit  them  to  direct  a  more 
powerful  literature  or  a  sacred  eloquence  to 
the  quickening  of  commercial  life  with  the 
principles  of  Christian  charity  and  upright- 
ness. May  God  grant  that,  by  the  instru- 
mentality of  this  humble  book,  some  youths 
may  be  led  to  habits  which  will  be  "  profitable 
to  all  things,"  some  men  lifted  above  the 
trammels  of  commercial  selfishness,  and  some 
preachers  or  authors  moved  to  labor  to  bring 
religion  and  business  into  closer  union  ! 


CONTENTS. 


Chap.  Pa^e 

I. — The  SriiERE  wherein  he  moved 1 

II. — The  Born  Merchant 19 

III. — The  Basis  of  Character 56 

IV. — Early  Toils  and  Troubles 109 

.  V. — Rise  and  Progress 145 

VI. — Master  and  Men 196 

VII. — In  his  own  Neighbourhood 2S6 

VIIT. — In  the  Family..... 325 

IX. — The  Inner  Life 352 

X.— The  Latter  End 377 


mmM  Mwljani 


CHAPTER    I. 
THE    SPHERE    WHEREIN     HE     MOVED. 

Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us 

We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And,  departing-,  leave  behind  us 

Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time ; 
Footprints,  that  perhaps  another, 

Sailing  o'er  life's  solemn  main, 
A  forlorn  and  shipwreek'd  brother, 

Seeing,  shall  take  heart  again. — Longfellow. 

Kingswood  is  not  a  bewitching  place.  Going  out 
from  Bristol,  you  find  the  road  skirted  by  rough 
cottages,  prolific  of  a  rough  population.  Here  and 
there  is  a  man  whose  complexion  has  just  been 
painted  in  the  coal-pit,  or  a  woman  in  costume 
appropriate  to  other  ages, — a  long  great-coat  of 
dark-blue  cloth,  with  manifold  capes,  like  a  coach- 
man's, surmounted  by  a  quaint  black  hat,  with  a 
low  crown,  and  a  leaf  spreading  widely  all  round, 
but  lapped  down  about  the  ears.  To  the  eye  of  a 
stranger,  the  neighbourhood  seems  to  lie  at  a  dis- 
tance from  our  day.  But  a  few  modern  houses, 
aspiring  towards  respectability,  a  modern  church, 
and  modern  chapels,  all  in  very  good  taste,  show 

1 


2  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

that  a  new  spirit  of  improvement  has  broken  in 
upon  the  old  apathy  of  the  place. 

Just  at  the  top  of  Kingswood  Hill,  about  four 
miles  from  Bristol,  a  lane  turns  off  from  the  main 
road.  A  few  dozen  yards  down  that  lane,  you 
find  gates  that  indicate  the  entrance  to  a  substan- 
tial residence.  Passing  inside,  you  are  in  grounds 
where  shrubs  and  statues  pleasantly  contrast  with 
the  adjacent  rudeness.  To  your  left,  is  a  handsome 
house.  On  a  bright  green  lawn,  just  before  the 
door,  stand  a  fountain,  an  arbour  of  weeping  ash, 
and  a  pedestal  supporting  a  sun-dial.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  lawn,  spangled  groups  of  flowers  appear 
through  the  transparent  walls  of  a  conservatory ; 
and  close  by,  in  a  large  and  handsome  aviary,  a 
silver  pheasant  holds  court  over  a  tribe  of.  birds, 
some  curious,  some  musical.  Down  a  gentle  slope, 
the  grounds  spread  over  a  surface  of  about  fifteen 
acres,  where  you  see  patches  of  plantation,  a  speck 
of  water  enlivened  by  some  rare  poultry,  and  a  troop 
of  sheep  graced  by  a  stag  and  fawn.  Beyond  this, 
the  view  stretches  away  up  a  rich  valley,  and  then 
far  on,  over  undulating  lands,  till,  in  the  distance, 
the  eye  catches  a  lofty  monument  at  Dursley,  some 
twenty  miles  away.  A  cottage  here  and  there  decks 
the  green  fields,  with  its  red  tiles  and  walls  of  shiny 
white.  The  prospect  convinces  you  that  nature  is 
not  to  be  blamed  for  the  roughness  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood. The  residence  and  grounds  show,  that 
some  one  was  found  who  could  appreciate  the  advan- 
tages which  nature  offered. 


SPHERE  WHEREIN   HE   MOVED.  3 

On  Wednesday,  the  Yth  of  May,  1851,  just  before 
the  village  clock  struck  twelve,  you  might  have  seen 
a  strange,  new  foreground  to  the  pleasant  picture 
which  lies  in  front  of  that  dwelling.  On  the  cir- 
cular pathway  before  the  door,  about  two  hundred 
men  stood  ranged  in  order,  two  by  two.  Each 
figure  was  clad  in  a  mourning  cloak,  each  hat  had 
a  funeral  band.  A  listless  look  you  did  not  see, 
nor  a  head  carried  thoughtlessly.  Those  at  the 
rear  of  the  column  were  only  boys ;  before  these 
were  youths ;  and  so  advancing,  till,  near  its  head, 
you  found  gray-haired  men ;  and  they  appeared 
the  saddest.  That  long  column, — black,  black,  all 
black, — did  look  deeply  mournful,  in  front  of  the 
pleasant  lawns  and  the  bright  Gloucestershire  val- 
ley, in  their  May-day  leaf  and  bloom.  The  head 
of  the  column  stood  close  by  the  portico  of  the 
house.  A  bier  was  there.  A  single  glance  would 
have  told  a  stranger  all ; — the  master  of  the  place 
was  gone,  and  his  retainers  had  gathered  to  honour 
his  burial ! 

Inside  the  gates,  everything  told  you  that  the 
residence  had  lost  its  master.  Outside,  everything 
told  you  that  the  village  had  lost  its  chief  man. 
The  houses  had  their  blinds  drawn  down  ;  the  shops 
were  closed ;  the  whole  population  seemed  abroad 
and  eager.  A  dense  crowd  stood  round  the  gates ; 
and  all  along  the  l-oad,  "  to  the  place  of  sepulchre," 
for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  and  more,  was  ranged  an 
expecting  throng.  Never  before,  though  familiar 
with  Irish  funerals,  had  I  witnessed  such  an  assem- 


4  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

bly  at  an  interment — at  least,  never  but  once ;  and 
that  was  on  the  occasion  when  even  the  volatile 
heart  of  Paris  was  heavy  for  a  clay,  while  her 
whole  population  came  forth  to  follow  the  bier  of 
those  who  had  perished  in  the  frantic  battle  of 
June,  1848. 

How  natural  it  is,  when  one  sees  a  funeral  indi- 
cating wealth  or  influence,  to  think  of  Southey's 
forcible  piece,  and  to  watch  among  the  attendants 
for  tokens  of  the  place  the  departed  held  in  their 
hearts : — 

These  mourners  here,  who  from  their  carriages 
Gape  at  the  gaping  crowd.    A  good  March  wind 
Were  to  be  pray'd  for  now,  to  lend  their  eyes 
Some  decent  rheum ;  the  very  hireling  mute 
Bears  not  a  face  more  blank  of  all  emotion 
Than  the  old  servant  of  the  family : 
How  can  this  man  have  lived,  that  thus  his  death 
Costs  not  the  soiling  one  white  handkerchief ! 

It  was  not  so  here.  As  you  looked  along  that 
numerous  "  following,"  from  the  men  that  bore  the 
coffin  to  the  boys  that  brought  up  the  distant  rear, 
you  felt  that  it  was  not  a  pageant,  but  a  mourning. 

The  procession  entered  a  spacious  chapel.  Every 
nook  was  soon  crowded,  and  a  surplus  throng  re- 
mained without.  "While  the  solemn  service  was 
read,  you  could  see,  among  the  workingmen  avIio 
had  followed  the  bier,  many  a  countenance  very 
deeply  shaded.  A  minister  then  addressed  the 
multitude.  He  spoke  of  the  deceased,  not  in 
graceful  and  balanced  eulogies,  but  with  a  gush  of 
hearty  regard  that  was  not  to  be  framed  up  and 


SPHERE  WHEREIN  HE   MOVED.  5 

gilded.  He  spoke  of  worth  and  bounties  as  of 
things  that  all  present  knew  as  well  as  he ;  and  as 
he  spoke,  all  faces  gathered  feeling.  "Those 
bands,"  he  cried,  "have  given  away  their  hun- 
dreds upon  hundreds;"  and  then,  perhaps,  you 
seldom  saw  so  many  men  quite  melted.  Many  an 
eye  was  full,  and  many  an  eye  ran  over. 

Just  as  the  coffin  was  lowered  into  the  vault,  a 
woman,  standing  behind  me  in  the  crowd,  said, 
"  Ah,  poor  man  !  hope  he 's  gone  happy !" 

"  Gone  happy  !"  replied  a  neighbour ;  "  if  he  isn't 
gone  happy,  what  must  us  do  ?" 

Turning  away  with  the  slowly-retiring  crowd,  I 
said  to  a  woman,  "  Have  you  often  such  funerals 
as  this  in  Kingswood  ?" 

She  looked  at  me  in  a  style  not  at  all  compli- 
mentary to  my  intelligence,  as  if  to  say,  "Where 
can  you  have  spent  your  days,  to  ask  a  question 
like  that?"  Then  exclaiming,  with  special  em- 
phasis, "  Niver !"  she  left  me  to  better  my  infor- 
mation. 

Joining  a  poor,  but  thoughtful-looking  man,  I 
said,  "  This  is  a  remarkable  funeral." 

"  Yes,  sir ;  such  a  one  as  we  never  had  in  Kings- 
wood  before."  Then  pausing,  he  added,  sadly, 
"  The  best  man  in  Kingswood  gone  to-day  !" 

A  few  days  afterwards,  meeting  with  an  elderly 
man,  whom  I  had  seen  as  one  of  the  retinue  of 
mourners,  I  asked  him  if  he  had  not  been  in  the 
employment  of  the  deceased  merchant. 

"  Yes,  sir,  for  seventeen  years."     Then  his  coun- 


6  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

tenance  flushed,  and  he  added,  "  Ah,  sir !  a  great 
man  fallen !" 

I  coolly  observed,  that  I  supposed  he  had  heen 
an  important  man  in  the  neighbourhood. 

"  In  the  neighbourhood !"  replied  the  old  man, 
"  there  wasn't  his  equal  in  all  England.  No  tongue 
can  ever  tell  all  that  man  did." 

This  man  was  about  sixty  years  of  age.  His 
hair  was  gray;  and  as  he  thus  spoke  of  his  late 
master,  to  a  perfect  stranger,  the  tears  fell  fast. 

Ah !  ye  cotton  lords  and  corn  lords,  for  whom 
many  toil  in  factoiy  or  in  field,  that  would  be  no 
unworthy  monument, — a  man  who  had  grown 
gray  in  your  service,  weeping  at  the  mention  of 
your  name.  But  such  a  monument  as  that,  like  a 
Parian  monument,  costs  a  price.  It  never  comes 
unbought.  And  it  must  be  paid  for  in  your  own 
lifetime,  and  with  your  own  hand.  Your  will,  or 
your  survivors,  may  secure  a  marble  that  will 
droop  and  mourn  over  your  grave  for  centuries; 
but  if  you  would  have  a  few  warm  tears  from  the 
heart  of  a  poor  man,  neither  heir  nor  will  can  buy 
them.  "  Rarely,"  said  the  '  Bristol  Times '  of  that 
week,  "has  a  neighbourhood  suffered  a  greater 
loss,  in  the  death  of  a  man,  than  Kingswood  in  the 
decease  of  Mr.  Budgett,  whose  charity  was  un- 
bounded, and  who  distributed  with  discrimination 
and  liberality,  and  without  ostentation,  fully  £2,000 
a  year  from  his  own  pocket." 

I  do  not  now  wait  to  inquire  whether  this  esti- 
mate is  too  high  or  too  low ;  but  when  a  man  is 


SPHERE  WHEREIN  HE  MOVED.      7 

thus  spoken  of  in  his  own  vicinity,  you  can  under- 
stand how  some  tears  should  fall  at  his  removal. 

And  who  was  this  man,  whose  death  moved  an 
entire  neighbourhood,  and  wrung  individual  hearts  ? 
You  might  often  have  seen  driving  into  Bristol,  a 
man  under  the  middle  size,  verging  towards  sixty, 
wrapped  up  in  a  coat  of  deep  olive,  with  gray  hair, 
an  open  countenance,  a  quick  brown  eye,  and  an 
air  less  expressive  of  polish  than  of  push.  He 
drives  a'  phaeton,  with  a  first-rate  horse,  at  full 
speed.  He  looks  as  if  he  had  work  to  do,  and  had 
the  art  of  doing  it.  On  the  way  he  overtakes  a 
woman  carrying  a  bundle.  In  an  instant  the  horse 
is  reined  up  by  her  side,  and  a  voice  of  contagious 
promptitude  tells  her  to  put  up  her  bundle  and 
mount.  The  voice  communicates  to  the  astonished 
pedestrian  its  own  energy.  She  is  forthwith  seated, 
and  away  dashes  the  phaeton.  In  a  few  minutes 
the  stranger  is  deposited  in  Bristol,  with  the  pre- 
sent of  some  pretty  little  book,  and  the  phaeton 
hastens  on  to  Nelson-street.  There  it  turns  into 
the  archway  of  an  immense  warehouse.  "  Here, 
boy ;  take  my  horse !  take  my  horse !"  It  is  the 
voice  of  the  head  of  the  firm.  The  boy  flies.  The 
master  passes  through  the  offices  as  if  he  had  three 
days'  work  to  do.  Yet  his  eye  notes  everything. 
He  reaches  his  private  office.  He  takes  from  his 
pocket  a  memorandum-book,  on  which  he  has  set 
down,  in  order,  the  duties  of  the  day.  A  boy 
waits  at  the  door.  He  glances  at  his  book,  and 
orders  the  boy  to  call  a  clerk.     The  clerk  is  there 


8  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MEKCHANT. 

promptly,  and  receives  his  instructions  in  a  moment. 
"  Now,  what  is  the  next  thing  V  asks  the  master, 
glancing  at  his  memorandum.  Again  the  hoy  is 
on  the  whig,  and  another  clerk  appears.  He  is 
soon  dismissed.  "  Now,  what  is  the  next  thing  ?" 
again  looking  at  the  memorandum.  At  the  call 
of  the  messenger,  a  young  man  now  approaches 
the  office-door.  He  is  a  "  traveller ;"  hut  notwith- 
standing the  habitual  push  and  self-possession  of 
his  class,  he  evidently  is  approaching  his  employer 
with  reluctance  and  embarrassment.  He  almost 
pauses  at  the  entrance.  And  now  that  he  is  face 
to  face  with  the  strict  man  of  business,  he  feels 
much  confused. 

"  Well,  what 's  the  matter  ?  I  understand  you 
can't  make  your  cash  quite  right." 

"No,  Sir." 

"  How  much  are  you  short  ?" 

"  Eight  pounds,  sir." 

"  Never  mind ;  I  am  quite  sure  you  have  done 
what  is  right  and  honourable.  It  is  some  mistake  ; 
and  you  won't  let  it  happen  again.  Take  this  and 
make  your  account  straight." 

The  young  man  takes  the  proffered  paper.  He 
sees  an  order  for  ten  pounds ;  and  retires  as  full  of 
admiration  as  he  had  approached  full  of  anxiety. 

"Now,  what  is  the  next  thing?"  This  time  a 
porter  is  summoned.  He  comes  forward  as  if  he 
expected  rebuke.  "  O  !  I  have  got  such  a  complaint 
reported  against  you.  You  know  that  will  never 
do.     You  must  not  let  that  occur  again." 


SPHERE  WHEREIN  HE  MOVED.     9 

Thus,  with  incredible  despatch,  matter  after  mat- 
ter is  settled,  and  all  who  leave  that  office  go  to 
their  work  as  if  some  one  had  oiled  all  their  joints. 

At  another  time,  you  find  the  master  passing 
tli  rough  the  warehouse.  Here,  his  quick  glance 
descries  a  man  who  is  moving  drowsily,  and  he  says 
a  sharp  word  that  makes  him,  in  a  moment,  nimble. 
There,  he  sees  another  blundering  at  his  work.  He 
had  no  idea  that  the  master's  eye  was  upon  him,  till 
he  finds  himself  suddenly  supplanted  at  the  job.  In 
a  trice,  it  is  done ;  and  his  master  leaves  him  to  di- 
gest the  stimulant.  Now,  a  man  comes  up  to  tell 
him  of  some  plan  he  has  in  his  mind,  for  improving 
something  in  his  own  department  of  the  business. 
"  Yes,  thank  you,  that's  a  good  idea ;"  and  putting 
half-a-crown  into  his  hand,  he  passes  on.  In  another 
place  he  finds  a  man  idling.  You  can  soon  see,  that 
of  all  spectacles  this  is  the  one  least  to  his  mind. 
"  If  you  waste  five  minutes,  that  is  not  much ;  but 
probably  if  you  waste  five  minutes  j^ourself,  you  lead 
some  one  else  to  waste  five  minutes,  and  that  makes 
ten.  If  a  third  follow  your  example,  that  makes  a 
quarter  of  an  hour.  Now,  there  are  about  a  hundred 
and  eighty  of  us  here ;  and  if  every  one  wasted  five 
minutes  in  a  day,  what  would  it  come  to  ?  Let  me 
see.  Why,  it  would  be  fifteen  hours;  and  fifteen 
hours  a  day  would  be  ninety  hours,  about  eight  days, 
working  time,  in  a  week ;  and  in  a  year,  would  be 
four  hundred  days.  Do  you  think  we  could  ever 
stand  waste  like  that  ?"  The  poor  loiterer  is  utterly 
confounded.     He  had  no  idea  of  eating  up  fifteen 


10  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

hours,  much  less  four  hundred  days,  of  his  good  em- 
ployer's time  ;  and  he  never  saw  before  how  fast  five 
minutes  could  be  multiplied. 

Turning  from  this  energetic  merchant  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  which  he  is  the  head,  you  are  asto- 
nished at  its  magnitude  and  order.  "  What  busi- 
ness do  you  call  yours?"  would  be  your  natural 
inquiry.  "  General  Provision  Merchants."  And, 
verily,  they  do  seem  bent  on  making  general  pro- 
vision. The  warehouse  is  one  hundred  and  eighty 
feet  long,  by  three  hundred  and  fifty  at  its  greatest 
depth.  You  pass  from  office  to  office,  from  yard  to 
yard,  from  loft  to  loft,  and  from  loft  to  cellar,  till 
you  wonder  how  all  this  has  been  brought  \inder 
one  roof.  Then  you  are  led  across  the  street  to 
commence  a  similar  process,  on  a  smaller  scale,  in 
a  bonded  warehouse.  Even  though  you  have  travel- 
led a  good  deal,  you  may  find  the  tour  of  that  ware- 
house a  curious  and  instructive  journey.  Here  you 
come  upon  a  region  of  loaf  sugar,  where  it  is  stored 
up,  pile  upon  pile,  as  if  seven  years  of  saccharine 
famine  had  been  foretold.  There  you  light  upon  a 
tract  of  sugar  tierces,  before  which  you  cease  to 
wonder  at  the  piles  of  loaf.  "  "What !"  you  say  to 
yourself,  "  are  all  these  tierces  to  be  melted  away  in 
tea-cups  ?"  Then,  thinking  such  masses  must  move 
off  slowly,  you  ask,  "How  much  does  each  tierce 
weigh  ?" 

"  Ten  hundred  weight." 

"  And  do  you  sell  many  of  them  whole  ?" 

"  We  sold  two  hundred  and  fifty  last  week." 


SPHEEE   WHEREIN  HE   MOVED.  11 

Here  you  come  upon  a  territory  overgrown  with 
tea-chests ;  there,  upon  a  colony  of  casks  replenished 
with  nutmegs,  cassia,  and  all  spicery.  Again,  you 
are  environed  with  piled-up  boxes  of  fruit ;  then,  with 
a  vast  snowy  region  of  flour.  Presently,  you  are  in 
a  land  of  coffee ;  then,  in  a  realm  where  molasses 
reigns  alone,  parading  itself  in  hogshead  after  hogs- 
head, and  dozens  of  hogsheads,  till  you  see  there  is 
more  molasses  in  the  world  than  you  ever  thought 
before.  Now,  you  are  wandering  in  a  wilderness  of 
cheeses ;  then,  on  lofts  which  groan  under  mountains 
of  peas.  Here,  tobacco  abounds ;  there,  bacon. 
An<l,  as  if  to  mock  your  surprise  at  the  large  store 
of  articles  which  rank  among  the  necessaries  of  life, 
you  find  a  heap  of  canary-seed,  which,  in  a  barn, 
would  look  respectable  for  a  heap  of  corn.  As  you 
prosecute  your  journey,  here  you  are  in  stables  with 
stalls  for  forty  or  fifty  horses  ;  there,  in  a  carpenter's 
shop ;  again,  amongst  a  band  of  coopers.  Below, 
you  find  a  troop  of  wagoners,  lading  their  capa- 
cious carts,  and  marching  off  to  distribute  the  con- 
tents to  steamboats  and  railways,  in  an  array  that 
would  do  no  discredit  to  a  military  commissariat. 
In  one  office  (through  which  you  must  needs  pass 
to  get  into  the  warehouse)  you  have  a  clerk  whose 
business  is  simply  to  learn  your  errand,  and  to  direct 
you  accordingly.  In  another,  you  have  a  salesman, 
surrounded  by  all  manner  of  samples,  and  cheerfully 
at  the  service  of  any  customer  for  cash.  In  another 
set  of  offices  you  have  a  large  array  of  clerks.  In 
each  department  you  find  a  head   man,  with  his 


12  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MEECHANT. 

troop  under  him.  Here,  they  ai-e  breaking  up  tierces 
of  sugar,  and  mixing  the  different  kinds.  There, 
they  are  weighing  flour.  In  this  corner,  you  find  a 
man  before  a  solid  heap  of  currants,  -which  stub- 
bornly retains  the  form  of  the  cask,  belabouring  it 
with  an  instrument  uncommonly  like  a  fork  in  a 
stable-yard.  Here,  they  are  with  an  order-book, 
making  up  the  items  of  an  order.  There,  they  are 
weighing  and  packing.  In  a  central  position,  an 
inspector  is  placed  in  a  counting-house  glazed  on  all 
sides,  from  which  he  can  look  out  on  the  whole 
stream  of  business,  as  it  passes  to  and  fro.  In  ano- 
ther place,  you  find  a  monster  coffee-roaster  in  full 
play.  Again,  you  are  in  a  room  where  some  half 
dozen  kinds  of  tea  are  ready  to  be  tasted  by  one  of 
the  principals.  Presently,  you  light  upon  a  band 
who  are  hidden  behind  a  drapery  of  flour  bags,  and, 
thus  secluded,  are  repairing  such  bags  as  have  suf- 
fered in  the  service.  Near  these,  you  see  three  boys 
seated  at  an  anvil,  hammering  old  nails  straight. 
This,  you  are  told,  is  one  of  the  first  steps  in  the 
establishment.  On  entering,  a  boy  is  set  to  this 
work.  If  diligent  here,  he  is  promoted  to  serve 
under  the  master  bag-mender.  If  he  do  well  there, 
he  is  made  a  messenger.  And  then,  his  future  posi- 
tion in  the  house  depends  entirely  on  his  ability  and 
application.  "But,"  you  are  very  likely  to  ask, 
"  what  are  these  old  nails,  which  the  boys  are  beat- 
ing straight  V 

"  O !  they  are  the  old  nails  picked  up  about  the 


concern." 


SPHERE   WHEREIN   HE   MOVED.  13 

"  And  are  there  old  nails  enough  picked  up  about 
the  concern  to  keep  three  boys  employed  ?" 

"  Not  constantly." 

As  you  pass  through  the  different  scenes  of  labour, 
you  find  the  men  moving  with  great  regularity. 
Every  one  is  at  work,  yet  there  is  no  haste.  You 
receive  an  impression  of  activity,  rather  than  of  bus- 
tle. You  naturally  inquire,  "  What  are  your  hours 
of  business  ?" 

"  The  men  come  at  six ;  some  of  the  clerks  at  half- 
past  seven.  We  leave  just  when  we  have  done — 
the  clerks  about  four ;  the  porters  at  from  five  to 
half-past." 

"  '  When  you  have  done ;'  what  do  you  mean  by 
that?"* 

"  We  always  do  the  day's  work  within  the  day ; 
and  we  are  at  liberty  to  leave  when  it  is  done." 

You  would,  perhaps,  wish  to  know  more  about 
this  doing  the  day's  work  within  the  day ;  but  for 
that  you  must  wait  till  we  reach  another  chapter. 
At  present,  we  are  only  looking  round  the  premises 
and  gathering  general  impressions. 

In  such  an  establishment  one  naturally  observes 
the  men,  to  form  an  idea  of  their  health,  their  cha- 
racter, and  their  position  as  to  comfort.  That  part 
of  one's  survey  is  often  painful  enough.  In  many  a 
prosperous  cotton  or  woollen  factory,  you  see  every- 
thing which,  to  an  expert  eye,  tells  of  ill-health  in 
some,  disorderly  habits  in  others,  wretched  homes 
in  a  third  class ;  and  in  particular  individuals,  the 
whole  of  these  evils  unmistakably  meet,  for  the 


14  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

air,   the  eye,  the   gait,   the   complexion,   and  the 
attire,  record  them  as  clearly  as  the  most  expressive 
pen.     In  great  iron-works,   how  painfully  an  ob- 
server feels  that  some  of  those  brave  and  brawny 
fellows,  who  are  performing  snch  herculean  labours 
for  the  general  good,  are  sinking  prematurely  under 
the  twin  effects  of  fire  and  intoxication !     In  some 
of  the  arsenals  whence  issue  our  matchless  Sheffield 
wares,  how  sad  to  look  on  those  busy  frames  whose 
life  is  plainly  wasting.     In  some  of  the  mining  dis- 
tricts of  Cornwall,  it  is  touching  to  observe  how  fe>v 
old  men  are  to  be  found  in  a  crowd ;  and  to  see 
here  and  there  a  brave  young  miner  bearing  fear- 
ful tokens  of  underground  accident.     In  the  metro-, 
politan  warehouses,  how  often  does  the  eye  turn 
sad  over  a  countenance  where  decay  is  appearing, 
or   where    dissipation    is    recorded!     In    all  these 
spheres,  happily,  one  may  often  trace  proofs  that 
masters   are  attentive  to  the  well-being   of  those 
who  labour  under  their  eye.     In  many  cases,  late 
years  have  witnessed  great  advancement,  both  in 
comfort  and  in  morals.     But  still,  in  such  scenes 
of  industry,   there  is  often  enough  to  make  one 
mourn  over  the  lot  of  those  who  are  serving  us  all. 
I  have   witnessed  hives  of  labour  whence   much 
sweet  gain  accrued,  but  one  was  little  tempted  to 
envy  him  into  whose  storehouse  it  came;  for,  to 
secure  the  honey,  so  many  of  the  bees  are  sacri- 
ficed.    Ye  that  are  able  to  direct  those  who  are 
only  able  to  toil,  ye  have  a  right  to  goodly  gain ; 
but  when  you  count  your  increase,  forget  not  those 


«*fc# 


SPHERE  WHEREIN  HE  MOVED.     U 

by  Avliose  weary  labours  you  were  enabled  to  carry 
out  your  plans.  Think  what  you  can  do  for  their 
health,  their  homes,  their  intellect,  and  their  souls. 

It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  go  through  a  stirring 
house  of  manufacture,  or  of  commerce,  and  see 
clean  attire,  healthy  complexions,  and  cheerful 
Looks.  Sometimes  one  is  agreeably  surprised  to 
find  how  far  this  is  the  case,  even  when  the  occu- 
pation and  the  atmosphere  are  very  unfriendly. 
But  the  great  warehouse  in  Nelson-street,  Bristol, 
is  exempt  from  the  difficulties  which  some  kinds  of 
business  present  to  cleanliness,  cheerfulness,  and 
health.  There  you  see  scarcely  a  face  that  raises  a 
suspicion  of  drunken  or  disorderly  habits ;  scarcely 
an  attire  but  seems  comfortable,  according  to  the 
grade.  You  meet  with  many  whose  mien  tells 
you  explicitly,  that  they  are  thoughtful,  intelligent 
men.  And  several  who  pass  in  white  apron  and 
cap,  strike  you  at  once  as  having  the  expression 
that  indicates  a  mind  to  which  the  comforts  and 
the  virtue  of  piety  are  habitual.  And  keep  your 
ear  open  as  you  may,  you  will  not  catch  an  oath 
or  an  unseemly  word. 

In  your  course  round  the  premises,  you  meet 
with  one  large  room,  which  contains  no  merchan- 
dise, and  has  no  air  of  business.  A  long  range  of 
neat  forms  are  its  sole  contents,  except  a  table  at 
the  head.  On  the  table  lie  "Fletcher's  Family 
Devotion"  and  "Wesley's  Hymns."  "What," 
you  ask,  in  some  doubt,  "  what  is  this  place  ?" 

"This  is  our  chapel.     A  large  number  of  men 


1G  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

breakfast  on  the  premises ;  and  before  breakfast, 
half  an  hour  is  allowed  for  family  worship.  Then 
the  men  assemble  here  for  that  purpose." 

Family  worship  here !  you  are  ready  to  exclaim ; 
surely  it  would  be  wise  and  good,  if  a  family  feel- 
ing could  be  shed  over  such  a  vast  establishment, 
and  the  hearts  of  the  men  be  saved  from  feeling, 
in  the  haste  of  business,  that  all  relations  but  those 
of  commerce  were  forgotten.  Some  sacred  link 
ought  surely  to  hallow  the  intercourse  of  those 
whose  lot  it  is,  day  after  day,  to  toil  side  by  side. 
How  often  it  seems  to  be  taken  for  granted,  that 
when  the  business  of  a  day  is  begun,  in  a  large 
concern,  all  family  scenes  and  all  religious  thoughts 
must  wait  till  the  day  is  over ! 

The  morning  after  Mr.  Budgett's  funeral,  I  was 
in  the  warehouse  before  half-past  seven  o'clock. 
The  various  departments  were  in  full  play,  and  the 
wagoners  packing  their  loads.  At  the  half  hour, 
the  bell  rang.  I  went  into  the  chapel.  It  was 
soon  filled  with  the  men  in  their  working  dress. 
About  eighty  assembled.  A  son  of  the  deceased 
principal  sat  at  the  table.  He  took  up  "  Fletcher's 
Family  Devotion,"  and  read  the  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture appointed  for  the  8  th  of  May,  with  the  accom- 
panying reflections.  The  passage  is  that  which 
records  the  wish  of  the  daughters  of  Zelophehad. 
The  reflections  seemed  as  if  they  had  been  framed 
on  purpose  to  follow  the  memorable  scene  in  which 
they  had  all  acted  a  part  yesterday ;  turning  upon 
the  duty  of  honouring  the  memory  of  the  departed. 


SPHERE   WHEREIN  HE  MOVED.  11 

The  young  merchant,  himself  affected  by  the 
circumstances,  and  by  the  coincidence  of  such  a 
lesson  coming  on  that  particular  morning,  ad- 
dressed the  men  in  a  few  words  of  cordial,  Chris- 
tian advice.  He  then  gave  out  a  hymn,  which 
was  heartily  sung.  Next,  he  called  upon  one  of 
them  by  name,  to  pray.  All  knelt  down,  and  the 
man  prayed,  with  fervour  and  solemnity,  for  spirit- 
ual blessings  to  them  all ;  for  comfort  to  the  be- 
reaved family;  and  for  the  business,  that  God 
might  make  it  prosper.  When  he  ceased,  the 
young  master  took  up  the  strain ;  and  thus,  men 
and  master  unitedly  worshipped  the  great  Dis- 
poser who  appoints  the  lot  of  all.  About  half  an 
hour  was  spent  in  this,  religious  service.  Little 
would  a  man  of  the  world  think,  in  watching  the 
vast  trade  going  forward  within  those  walls,  and 
the  vigour  with  which  the  whole  machine  moves, 
that  time  is  daily  found  to  pause  and  hearken  to  a 
voice  from  the  unerring  Guide,  and  bow  down  to 
call  for  blessings  from  the  Hand  that  can  make 
everything  to  speed.  And  think  you  that  those 
daily  prayers  have  had  no  part  in  the  rapid  growth 
and  healthy  action  of  that  establishment  ? 

You  naturally  ask  if  one  of  the  family  always 
takes  the  lead  in  this  act  of  "family  prayer." 
"  O,  no ;  not  always — if  any  of  them  are  here ;  but 
if  not,  it  goes  on  all  the  same.  We  have  a  regular 
plan,  by  which  a  certain  number  of  the  pious  men 
take  it  in  turn,  two  every  morning." 

Such  is  the  establishment  of  which  Mr.  Budgett 

2 


18  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

was  the  Lead.  It  stands  there  his  monument. 
Its  proportions  record  the  extent  of  his  views ;  its 
order,  his  power  to  systematize ;  its  prompt  and 
rapid  action,  his  vigour ;  its  moral  tone,  his  piety. 
Thirty  years  ago  he  was  admitted  a  partner  in  a 
retail  shop  in  a  country  village.  Now  he  has  left 
what  a  local  paper  calls  "the  largest  business  in 
the  West  of  England,  and  one  which  turns  nearer 
millions  than  thousands  in  the  course  of  the  year." 
It  does  not  turn  "millions."  Its  returns,  in  one 
year,  are  not  a  million,  perhaps  not  quite  three- 
quarters  of  a  million.  But  that,  mark !  is  all 
brought  in  by  a  system  of  prompt  payment.  No 
bills ;  all  cash.  The  rule  in  that  great  establish- 
ment is,  that  all  purchases  made  within  the  month 
are  paid  for  at  the  end  of  the  month. 

Such  returns !  such  a  stock !  such  a  number  of 
hands  !  You  are  ready  to  exclaim,  "  What  a  busi- 
ness stock-taking  must  be !  How  long  does  it 
occupy  V 

"  At  twelve  o'clock  on  a  certain  day  we  stop  busi- 
ness ;  and  before  twelve  at  night  the  stock  is  taken, 
the  balance  struck,  and  the  principals  in  their  beds 
at  Kingswood  or  at  Clifton." 

What  was  the  history  of  the  man  who  has  left 
us  such  a  monument? 


THE  BOltN   MERCHANT.  19 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE   BORN   MERCHANT. 

Still  let  thy  mind  be  bent,  still  plotting  where, 
And  when,  and  how,  the  business  may  be  done. 

Herbert. 

Commerce  is  not  one  of  the  Muses.  A  bargain  is 
not  so  beautiful  a  thing  as  a  poem,  an  oratorio,  a 
picture,  or  a  flight  of  eloquence.  Yet  the  bargain 
holds  no  mean  place  in  the  framework  of  this  pre- 
sent world.  It  is  the  first  material  bond  of  human 
society.  By  it,  the  individual  acquires  what  he 
could  not  produce,  and  is  relieved  of  what  he  could 
not  employ.  By  it,  the  best  fruits  of  a  skill  pos- 
sessed by  one  alone  are  distributed  throughout  the 
community ;  and  the  one,  in  serving  the  community, 
is  advancing  himself.  By  it,  nation  is  linked  with 
nation  in  a  thousand  beneficial  connexions.  By  it, 
the  dissimilar  produce  of  climates  lying  wide  apart 
meet  in  a  single  home  ;  the  temperate  zone  gather- 
ing winter  comfort  from  the  pole,  and  summer  luxury 
from  the  equator.  Much  as  we  should  regret  the 
departure  from  our  world  of  the  poem,  the  picture, 
or  the  oration,  that  would  not  leave  mankind  so  ut- 
terly at  a  loss  as  the  departure  of  the  less  beautiful 
bargain.  Without  it,  we  could  never  behold  a  shop, 
a  public  conveyance,  a  factory,  a  ship,  a  railway,  or 
an  extensive  town. 


20  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

"  The  Iliad  for  war,"  cries  the  author  of  '  Friends 
in  Council,'  "  and  the  Odyssey  for  wandering ;  but 
where  is  the  great  domestic  epic  ?"  A  very  fit  ques- 
tion. And  where  is  the  great  commercial  epic? 
Arms,  agriculture,  love,  travel,  and  adventure,  all 
have  had  their  ample  offerings  of  song ;  but,  in  spite 
of  Dyer's  "  Fleece,"  and  Granger's  "  Sugar  Cane,"  and 
Phillips'  "  Cyder,"  with  minor  attempts  to  give  com- 
merce a  poetic  status,  it  has  thus  far  held  on  its 
course  in  the  world  without  any  notable  obligation 
to  the  lyre.  Any  subject,  in  its  vulgar  aspect,  ap- 
pears below  the  dignity  and  interest  of  poetry ;  but 
once  that  it  has  been  seen  by  the  eye  of  the  poet, 
and  that  his  numbers  have  set  it  forth,  all  will  recog- 
nise its  higher  aspects.  Commerce,  in  its  petty  de- 
tails, is  very  far  from  poetry ;  so  is  a  brigade  of  re- 
cruits on  drill,  lifting  up  and  setting  down  first  one 
foot  and  then  the  other,  as  the  sergeant  cries,  "  Left ! 
right ! — left !  right !"  But  commerce,  on  the  grand 
scale,  is  connected  with  the  chief  events  of  history, 
with  all  the  noted  terrestrial  discoveries,  all  the  scenes 
of  nature,  all  the  spheres  of  enterprise,  all  the  tri- 
umphs of  invention,  all  the  manners  of  the  nations. 
It  is  by  the  light  of  commerce  that,  far  away  on  the 
misty  frontier  of  history,  we  first  catch  sight  of  Phoe- 
nicia, careering  on  the  ancient  seas ;  of  Greece,  re- 
ceiving her  colonies  and  her  lights ;  of  Carthage, 
spreading  enterprise  around  the  west;  of  Ancient 
Britain,  emerging  out  of  the  unknown,  and  holding 
in  her  hand,  as  her  modest  contribution  to  the  com- 
mon store  of  mankind,  a  goodly  supply  of  tin.     It 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  21 

is  commerce  that  first  tells  us  of  bright  rich  lands 
in  the  distant  east,  beyond  the  range  of  western 
politics  and  wars ;  that  brings  thence  gem,  and  spice, 
and  silky  robe,  which,  to  northern  eyes,  look  as  if 
they  came  from  some  strange  realm  of  light ;  that, 
displaying  these,  stirs  up  her  first-born  offspring, 
enterprise,  to  stretch,  her  flight  for  their  native  lands ; 
that,  at  length,  placing  enterprise  on  her  own  wings, 
bears  her  across  the  wide  Atlantic,  and  lets  her  gaze 
on  a  new  continent;  then,  carrying  her  round  the 
African  cape,  unfolds  the  real  scene  whence  the  great 
excitement  came, — the  Taprobane,  the  Golden  Cher- 
sonesus,  the  lands  of  cinnamon  and  peacocks ;  of 
pearl,  ivory,  and  diamond ;  of  muslin,  sandal-wood, 
and  silk.  It  is  commerce  which  presides  at  the  in- 
auguration of  the  new  age,  when  Europe  founds 
empires  beyond  the  sea,  and  east  and  west  meet  to- 
gether in  new  rivalries  and  friendships,  till  the  de- 
votees of  trade  cover  every  eminence  of  Columbia 
with  foreign  standards,  and  transfer  the  gorgeous 
realm  of  the  Great  Mogul  to  masters  who  confess 
the  creed  of  the  Nazarene.  And  sweeping  her 
course  from  Tadmor  to  San  Francisco,  what  magic 
communities  spring  up  in  her  train  !  Solomon's  fair 
city,  in  the  wilderness;  the  queenly  daughter  of 
Alexander,  by  the  mouths  of  the  Nile ;  Venice, 
emerging  from  the  flat  isles  of  the  Po,  beyond  the 
range  of  the  barbarians  who  then  overswept  all  Italy's 
ancient  glory ;  Bussorah,  springing  up  by  the  Tigris, 
under  auspices  of  the  crescent ;  the  Low  Countries, 
rising  out  of  the  sea,  gathering  the  wealth  of  the 


22  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

Eastern  Archipelago,  striking  down  the  banner  of 
Spain,  and  lifting  up  the  paralyzed  arm  of  Protest- 
ant England  ;  the  city  of  Clive  and  Hastings,  by  the 
ancient  Ganges ;  with  wonders  endless,  on  the  bays 
and  streams  of  yonder  new  world,  and  here,  in  our 
Lancashire  vales,  on  our  Yorkshire  hills,  or  in  the 
districts  where  the  great  wise  Hand  has  stored  up 
our  iron  and  our  coal. 

Again,  her  course  amid  the  paths  of  nature  is  not 
less  wonderful  than  among  those  of  history.  Now 
she  is  overwhelmed  in  the  simoon,  now  refreshed  on 
the  oasis ;  now  hemmed  in  by  the  icebergs,  now 
drenched  by  the  waterspout;  now  lashed  by  the 
monsoon,  now  enchained  by  the  calm  ;  now  steadily 
wafted  by  the  trade-wind,  now  broken  upon  the 
rock ;  now  joyfully  riding  in  the  haven,  now  away 
on  the  open  main,  where  sky  and  sea  alone  can 
meet  her  eye ;  now  hasting  through  the  hollow 
tunnel,  where  cloud,  and  tree,  and  wave' are  alike 
unseen ;  now  chasing  an  invisible  land  by  the  mys- 
terious track  of  the  magnet ;  now  reading  in  the 
conjunction,  the  transit,  the  eclipse,  or  the  culmina- 
ting sun.  her  instructions  how  to  travel  upon  earth. 

And  all  the  feats  whereof  poetic  rapture  ever  sang 
are  surely  to  be  matched  by  those  which  are  daily 
displayed  in  the  service  of  commerce.  The  hunts- 
man chasing  tiger,  elephant,  lion,  bear,  ostrich,  and 
kangaroo ;  the  diver  seeking  j:>earl ;  the  fisherman 
vanquishing  the  whale  ;  the  miner  undoing  the  bolts 
and  bars  of  nature's  treasure-vaults ;  the  mariner 
wrestling  with  both    wind  and  sea;    the  engineer 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  23 

scooping  tlve  hill  or  spanning  the  strait ;  the  caravan 
daring  the  sands;  the  fleet  braving  the  waters; 
the  bullock-train  encountering  the  kloof;  and  all 
that  ancient  poets  could  find  to  originate  ideas  of 
Cyclops  and  supernatural  powers,  was  little,  to  the 
flaming  wonders  of  one  night's  survey  from  Dudley 
Castle,  or  one  day's  study  of  the  magic  hives  of 
Manchester. 

Then,  commerce  mounts  her  upon  every  steed ; 
now  on  the  camel,  patient  as  a  thing  inanimate ; 
now  on  the  ship,  active  as  a  thing  of  life,  with  the 
canvass  for  her  wing  and  the  magnet  for  her  scent ; 
now  on  the  fleet  horse,  now  on  the  drowsy  buffalo ; 
now  on  the  toiling  wain,  now  on  the  flying  engine ; 
now  on  the  steadfast  mule,  now  on  the  quivering 
steamboat ;  now  follows  the  fleet  foot  of  the  rein- 
deer, now  loiters  on  the  dank  canal ;  now  skims  in 
the  slight  canoe,  now  rolls  in  the  thundering  train ; 
now  whirrs  on  the  wing  of  the  carrier-pigeon,  now 
clings  to  the  writhing  catamaran. 

Commerce,  too,  has  done  much  toward  fulfilling 
its  mission.  It  was  ordained  to  bind  man  to  man, 
province  to  province,  and  nation  to  nation,  by  the 
solid  tie  of  common  interests.  "  Had  all  nations 
found  at  home  everything  necessary  and  agreeable, 
it  is  impossible  to  conceive  to  what  extent  their  mu- 
tual alienation  might  have  proceeded.  China  and 
Japan  help  us  to  an  idea  of  that  which,  in  such  a 
case,  would  have  constituted  nationality."  But  God 
gave  each  individual  a  relish  for  all  that  is  charming 
in  creation,  yet  distributed  the  productions  which  all 


24  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

enjoy   over   the   various   zones    of  earth.     Conse- 
quently, if  the  people  of  one  land  would  partake  of 
all  they  coveted,  it  was  necessary  to  know  and  to 
deal  with  the  people  of  other  lands.     Thence  came 
that  interchange  of  services  by  which  we  now  see 
the  beverage  of  Englishmen  depending  on  the  rains 
in  China,  the  wealth  of  many   a  Chinese  on  the 
markets  of  England,  the  bread  of  many  a  family  in 
Manchester  on  the  weather  of  Carolina,  the  comfort 
of  many  a  home  in  Leeds  on  the  sheep  of  the  Cape 
and  Australia,  the  welfare  of  many  a  Spanish  vine- 
grower  on  the  rents  of  the  English  squire,  the  value 
of  Norwegian   pine  on  a  vote  at  St.  Stephen's,  the 
prosperity  of  the  Russian  hemp-grower  on  the  pros- 
perity of  England,  and  the  robes  of  the  Swedish 
ladies  on  the  silk-worms  of  the  south.     Commerce 
is  the  appointed  medium  for  making  that  universal 
in  benefit  which  is  local  in  production ;    for  pre- 
serving in  men  a  sense  of  dependence  upon  other 
men  ;  and  thus,  for  giving  the  most  favoured  nations 
a  knowledge  of  the  condition  of  others,  an  interest 
in  their  welfare,  and  a  facility  for  that  intercourse  by 
which   they   may  teach  and  elevate.     It  is  not  a 
spiritual  or  sentimental  tie ;  but  a  material  bond — 
a  chain  of  gold,  by  which  the  hand  of  Providence 
has  linked  the  interests  of  all  men  in  a  connexion 
which  the  most  carnal  eye  may  see;   but  which, 
when  recognised,  tends  to  facilitate  all  the  errands 
of  Christianity  among  the  nations.     It  was  through 
commerce  that  Carey  and  Swartz  were  enabled  to 
know  India,  and  to  reach  it ;  that  Morrison  had  his 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  25 

path  made  to  China ;  that  the  fetich-tree  of  Guinea 
and  tho  kraal  of  South  Africa  were  laid  open  to  the 
eye  of  Christian  piety ;  that  the  heart  of  zeal  was 
told  of  cannihal  feasts  in  New-Zealand,  and  infant 
murder  in  the  Polynesian  isles.  Of  old,  we  see  her 
ships  and  her  dromedaries  hearing  the  gold  and  the 
gems  of  the  richest  lands  to  lay  them  as  her  offering 
at  the  gate  of  God's  glorious  temple  on  Zion.  Thus 
may  she  he  seen  often  twining  ties  of  international 
amity ;  often  calling  forth  the  enlightened  to  teach 
the  dark ;  and  now  convening  all  earth's  tribes  under 
one  pure  dome  of  crystal.  But  often,  too,  she  ap- 
pears perverted  from  her  purpose — stirring  man 
against  man  with  a  pitiless  rivalry ;  rousing  nation 
against  nation,  for  lucre  ;  letting  loose  all  the  blood- 
hounds of  war ;  and,  alas  !  alas  !  the  whole  curse  of 
the  slave-yell  falls  upon  her  head,  the  whole  blood 
of  the  slave-trade  lies  upon  her  skirts.  Surely,  if 
commerce  could  find  her  poet,  the  poet  could  find 
his  materials.     Yet,  we  have  no  commercial  epic  ! 

And  what  is  far  more  wonderful  in  "  a  nation  of 
shopkeepers,"  we  have  no  commercial  biography. 
Our  power  abroad,  our  quiet  at  home,  the  stability 
of  our  government,  the  security  of  our  towns,  the 
value  of  our  crops,  are  all  so  dependent  upon  com- 
merce, that,  nationally,  it  is  our  first  interest  and  our 
leading  characteristic.  Our  merchants  have  been  a 
race  of  vast  endeavour,  and  incredible  achievement. 
They  have  built  up  a  fabric  that  astounds  us  all,  and 
our  neighbours  more  than  us.  They  have  had,  in 
their,  individual  careers,  the  most  wondrous  vicissi- 


26  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

tudes,  the  highest  romance  of  real  life.  They  have 
ever  furnished  the  noblest,  the  meanest,  the  most 
unaccountable,  the  most  exemplary,  the  most  eccen- 
tric specimens  of  character.  Many  of  them  have 
influenced  contemporary  history  more  than  reigning 
princes  ;  many  of  them  have  displayed  more  comical 
peculiarities  than  the  queerest  oddity  of  fiction. 
There  is  scarce  a  town  of  note,  to  which  some  one 
of  the  race  has  not  bequeathed  a  tradition  of  won- 
derful success,  accompanied  by  hated  parsimony,  by 
envied  sumptuousness,  or  by  benevolence  universally 
extolled.  Here,  you  have  a  mansion  and  park ; 
there,  a  set  of  almshouses ;  yonder,  a  church  or 
school ;  each  with  its  short  but  pregnant  tale  of  a 
remarkable  man.  Yet,  with  such  a  race  in  the 
midst  of  us,  and  such  tokens  of  what  they  have  been 
doing,  we  seek  in  vain  for  the  Lives  of  the  British 
Merchants.  Booksellers  look  uncommonly  wise 
when  you  ask  for  a  volume  of  commercial  biogra- 
phy. Johnson  has  taken  care  of  the  poets ;  Allan 
Cunningham  of  the  artists ;  Campbell  of  the  lord 
chancellors;  but  no  one  has  thought  of  the  lord 
mayors ;  except,  indeed,  that  worthy  scribe  who  re- 
galed our  childhood  with  the  pleasant  story  of 
"  Whittington  and  his  Cat."  Divines,  orators,  men 
of  science,  of  letters,  of  art,  statesmen,  generals,  ad- 
mirals, yea,  even  play-actors,  have  abounded  in  bi- 
ographers ;  but  the  men  who  have  reared  factories 
more  costly  than  a  castle,  who  have  given  bread  to 
more  men  than  an  ancient  chieftain  led  out  to  war, 
who  have  created  fleets  that  are  sailing  under  every 


THE  BORN   MERCHANT.  2? 

sky,  who  have  raised  an  entire  neighbourhood  from 
indigent  inaction  to  gainful  enterprise,  who  have 
presided  over  the  destinies  of  a  whole  exchange, 
who  have  built  up  a  financial  power  before  which 
foreign  cabinets  often  bend  suppliantly, — no  one 
has  cared  to  trace  for  commercial  posterity  the 
course  wherein  these  kings  of  commerce  struggled 
and  achieved. 

When  biographers  have  taken  up  a  commercial 

man,  they  have  dropped  business  as  a  leaden  thing, 

a  dead  weight,  that  would  sink  the  book ;  and  so 

you  float  away  with  a  fragrant  cargo  of  philanthropy 

or  public  life.     Mr.  Knight  gives  us  Gresham  ;  but 

Gresham  dealt  in  state  finance,  and  the  high  service 

of  kings.     In  the  edifying  biography  of  Allen,  you 

see  much  of  the  beauty  of  holiness,  nothing  of  the 

stern  struggle  of  profit  and  loss.     In   the    almost 

faultless  biography  of  Buxton,    you  are  now  and 

then  permitted  to  have  a  distant  peep  of  the  brewery, 

far  away  in  the  recesses  of  Brick  Lane ;  and  one  day 

you  are  positively  taken  inside  the  gates, — but  it  is 

to  eat  beefsteaks  with  the  premier    and   the  lord 

chancellor.     In  nearly  all  the  religious  biographies 

of  those  who  have  been  in  business,  you  see  the 

inner  man  alone.     Had  Jacob's  life  fallen  into  the 

hands  of  a  modern  biographer,  he  would  never  have 

thought  of  telling  us  the  contrivances  by  which  he 

multiplied  his  cattle.     That  would  not  have  been 

sufficiently   intellectual,   sufficiently   ethereal,  —  or, 

indeed,  sufficiently  to  Jacob's  credit. 

Arkwright  produced  an  invention  by  which  the 


28  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

British  people  have  been  more  influenced  politically, 
socially,  and  morally,  than  by  all  the  expeditions  in 
search  of  the  North-West  passage,  all  the  orations 
of  Curran,  all  the  poems  of  Burns,  all  the  pictures 
of  West ;  yet,  the  aspiring  apprentice  who  would 
trace  that  wonderful  (I  do  not  mean  noble)  man, 
must  hunt  in  the  "  Beauties  of  Derbyshire,"  among 
the  Cyclopaedias,  or  in  the  faithful  annals  of  the 
"  Gentleman's  Magazine,"  for  some  faint  outline  of  his 
career.  Should  he  go  to  a  circulating  library,  and 
ask  for  the  life  of  Arkwright,  perhaps  he  may  be 
favoured  with  an  offer  of  the  life  of  Charles  Mat- 
thews. The  first  Sir  Robert  Peel,  from  an  ambi- 
tious labouring  lad,  became  a  baronet,  who  em- 
ployed fifteen  thousand  men,  spoke  often  in  Parlia- 
ment, published  political  pamphlets,  when  the  coun- 
try was  threatened  with  invasion  gave  ten  thousand 
pounds  to  aid  our  overladen  finances,  raised  half  a 
regiment  of  volunteers,  and  bequeathed  to  England 
a  son  who  became  her  most  powerful  statesman. 
Yet  if  a  Lancashire  boy  feels,  as  he  felt,  that  he  has 
the  capability  of  raising  himself  to  station  and  power, 
he  may  go  to  the  library,  and  instead  of  the  life  of 
the  founder  of  the  Peels  be  offered  one  of  Lady 
Hester  Stanhope.  Rothschild  began  by  buying 
prints  at  Manchester,  and  ended  by  wielding  a 
power  which  was  felt  by  every  king  in  Europe. 
Yet  the  young  merchant  who  would  study  his  habits 
of  business  may,  possibly,  if  he  inquire  for  his  biog- 
raphy, be  offered  that  of  Theodore  Hook. 

Nothing  tends  to  form  the  rising  membei-s  of  any 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  29 

profession  more  than  the  biographies  of  those  who 
have  been  eminent  in  the  same  line.     The  advan- 
tage of  the  finest  models  has  lono-  been  before  the 
eye  of  all  the  alumni  of  the  theological,  military, 
political,    and   artistic  schools.     Not   so   with   the 
young  men  of  commerce.     Those  of  their  predeces- 
sors who  have  accomplished  the  greatest  wonders, 
are  known  only  by  a  stray  anecdote  or    a  slight 
sketch.     Every  boy  in  the  navy  knows  how  Captain 
Broke  took  the  Chesapeake ;  but  what  boy  in  the 
merchant  service  knows  anything  of  the   way  in 
which  Mr.  Green  created  his  superb  mercantile  fleet, 
with   its   noble  accompaniment,  his  sailor's  home  ? 
Every  young  author  can  learn  precisely  how  many 
pounds  a  day  Scott  earned  while  writing  the  life  of 
Bonaparte,  how  much  Byron  received  from  Murray 
for  Manfred  or  for  the  Corsair ;  but  though  points 
so  mercantile  are  worthy  of  record  in  the  high  re- 
gions of  poetry,  none  can  tell  by  what  transactions, 
successes,  and  plans  the  Barings  built  up  then-  power. 
Turn  where  you  will,  you  see  wonders  of  commerce, 
the  origin  of  which  is  recent,  the  history  of  which 
would  be  instructive  ;  but  which  are  known  only  by 
flying  traditions.    At  Leeds,  you  see  Marshall's  mills 
rising  up  as  by  magic,  giving  employment  directly 
or  indirectly  to  thousands,  raising  many  to  comfort, 
some  to  affluence,  spreading  competence  and  educa- 
tion around,  giving  that  great  borough  a  representa- 
tive, and  adorning  the  banks  of  Conistone  and  Ulls- 
water  with  new  mansions  and  demesnes.     Yet,  who 
of  us  can  tell  how  that  wonderful  structure  arose  ? 


30  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

But  we  are  all  well  taught  in  the  momentous  fact  that 
Lord  Byron  kept  his  figure  slim  hy  living  on  pota- 
toes and  vinegar.  At  Stockport,  we  see  the  mills 
of  another  Marshall,  performing,  in  cotton,  prodigies 
akin  to  those  of  the  former  in  flax ;  yet  what  work- 
ing-man Avho  wants  to  rise  can  con  over  the  narra- 
tive of  how  the  founder  of  that  establishment  began, 
and  rose,  and  weathered  the  storm,  and  pressed  on, 
till  he  was  the  largest  cotton  manufacturer  in  Eu- 
rope ?  But  we  are  all  instructed  in  the  portentous 
truth  that  when  Oliver  Goldsmith  presented  himself 
to  a  bishop  for  ordination,  he  was  arrayed  in  scarlet 
breeches. 

"  Commerce  is  a  dirty  thing,"  we  have  heard  lite- 
rary lips  say.  Yes,  in  dirty  hands,  it  is  a  dirty 
thing ;  and  in  rude  hands,  a  rude  thing ;  and  in 
covetous  hands,  a  paltry,  pelfy  thing.  Nevertheless, 
it  is  a  thing  on  which  those  who  despise  it  are 
largely  dependent.  Without  it,  the  author  would 
have  no  market  for  his  works ;  the  intellectual  gen- 
tleman, no  bookshop ;  the  grand  lad}^,  no  sumptuous 
furniture ;  the  fop,  no  finery ;  the  idler,  no  dainties. 
And,  what  is  far  more  important,  it  is  the  thing  in 
which  the  bulk  of  our  countrymen  are  spending 
their  lives,  and  in  which  the  bulk  of  future  genera- 
tions will  spend  their  lives  too, — the  thing  on  which 
their  earthly  hopes  will  depend,  in  which  their  souls 
will  be  tempted,  exercised,  chained  down  to  the  dust, 
or  prepared  for  immortal  joy.  If  literature  has  any 
work  in  this  world  at  all,  it  is  to  refine  and  elevate 
every  sphere  of  human  life ;  to  be  the  companion, 


THE  BORN   MERCHANT.  31 

and  friend,  and  teacher  of  every  rank  of  men.  It 
cannot,  therefore,  without  being  faithless  to  its  mis- 
sion, pass  lightly  over  that  sphere  wherein  the  most 
numerous  and  most  energetic  class  of  the  community 
are  trained  in  youth  and  tried  in  manhood.  No 
theme  is  dull,  if  not  handled  with  dulness';  no  theme 
low,  if  the  writer  exalt  it.  The  pen  of  Wordsworth 
can  chain  you  to  the  track  of  an  old  Cumberland 
beggar,  until  you  almost  count  the  nails  in  his  foot- 
print, and  feel  the  dust  from  his  meal-wallet.  The 
moss-trooper,  the  smuggler,  the  buccaneer,  are  all 
chosen  subjects  of  lofty  authors ;  but  to  depict  an 
actual  man,  whose  life  has  been  spent  in  the  strug- 
gles, the  reverses,  the  glossy  frauds,  and  the  sordid 
triumphs,  of  downright  purchase  and  sale,  seems  a 
task  far  too  practical  for  a  pen  from  the  ethereal 
plume  of  genius.  Gait,  even  when  undertaking  to 
portray  the  curious  life  of  Grant  Thorburn,  must 
needs  enshroud  it  in  the  fiction  of  "  Laurie  Todd." 

"  Who  would  ever  think  of  writing,-  the  life  of  the 
moiling  pelf-worm,  who  works  and  wriggles  through 
the  dust,  thinking  of  nothing  but  making  his  way  ?" 
True,  who  would  ?  But  who  would  think  of  writ- 
ing the  life  of  the  common-place  soldier,  who  wheels 
to  right  or  left,  loads,  presents,  fires,  and  fixes  bay- 
onet ?  or  of  the  scribbler  who  pawns  a  book  upon 
the  world  ?  or  of  the  spouter  who  perpetrates  dull 
speeches  ?  The  ignoble  is  ignoble  in  any  sphere ; 
the  great  is  great  in  any.  Commerce,  like  other 
spheres,  has  had  its  marvellous  men;  and,  to  the 
moralist,  no  class  he  could  handle  would  afford  such 


32  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

innumerable  points  on  which  important  light  might 
be  shed  upon  life's  actual  ways,  -wherein  the  plod- 
ding and  the  practical  are  ever  tempted  to  sell  truth 
and  integrity  for  gold.  But  from  them  the  literati 
seem  to  have  turned  away.  The  terra  incog- 
nita of  the "  learned  is  ordinary  life.  The  Chroni- 
cles of  the  Stock  Exchange,  the  History  of  Banking, 
the  Bankers'  Magazine,  and  some  prints  devoted  to 
economical  questions,  all  show  that  literature  has  at 
length  set  out  to  explore  that  region  of  reputed 
desert. 

For  business  men,  as  a  class,  literature  has  done 
little.  They  can  lay  their  hands  on  few  books  that 
are  not  likely  to  estrange  them  from  their  avoca- 
tions just  in  proportion  as  they  charm  them.  The 
young  men  of  any  other  profession,  beside  the  dry 
study  of  principles,  may  at  the  same  time  relax 
their  minds  and  rouse  up  all  their  professional  as- 
pirations by  the  lives  of  some  who  have  trodden  the 
very  path  on  which  they  are  starting,  and  found  it 
the  way  to  eminence.  Not  so  the  young  merchant, 
of  whatever  grade.  For  the  lives  of  the  great  he 
must  go  out  of  his  own  line  and  perhaps  learn  to 
despise  it,  when  he  might  have  learned  its  value 
and  had  all  his  views  ennobled.  Thus  many  busi- 
ness men  dread  books,  just  as  literary  men  dread 
business.  The  two  things  have  been  at  enmity. 
The  literatus  has  looked  down  on  the  man  of  figures 
and  facts,  with  counting-house  taste  and  cash-box 
imagination.  The  merchant  has  looked  down  on 
the  man  of  lofty  ideas  and  light  pockets,  redundant 


THE  BORN   MERCHANT.  33 

in  sentiment  but  kicking  in  common-sense.  You 
can  hardly  ever  find  a  business  man  who  has  any 
just  notion  of  the  mercantile  value  of  genius,  or  a 
literary  man  who  has  any  appreciation  of  business. 
How  seldom  does  a  millionaire  take  any  pains  to 
encourage  letters ;  or  a  scholar  care  to  analyze  the 
life  of  a  merchant,  whatever  mental  power  he  may 
have  displayed,  whatever  impulse  he  may  have 
given  to  the  improvement  of  international  or  inter- 
nal relations,  whatever  influence  he  may  have  ex- 
erted on  the  history  of  a  kingdom  !  Consequently, 
little  light  has  been  shed  into  the  recesses  of  com- 
merce from  higher  spheres.  Men  of  business  have 
been  left  to  form  their  own  codes  of  morals,  with  a 
millionth  part  of  the  criticism,  from  the  erudite,  on 
the  moral  correctness  of  this  principle  and  of  that 
mode  of  transaction,  that  has  been  spent  on  the  let- 
ter h,  the  Greek  article,  or  the  digamma.  The 
politics  of  commerce  are  now,  per  force,  a  favourite 
study;  but  the  morality  of  purchase  and  sale,  the 
effect  of  business  upon  character,  the  relation  which 
art,  science,  and  literature  bear  to  commerce,  are 
points  on  which  business  men  are  little  indebted  to 
those  whose  calling  it  is  to  instruct.  Had  it  been 
otherwise,  the  mercantile  class  might  have  been 
great  gainers,  in  enlarged  views,  in  refined  pleasure, 
in  appreciation  of  the  efforts  and  the  utility  of  the 
higher  orders  of  mind,  and  also  in  clear  views  of  the 
moral  principles  of  trade. 

But  more  attention  to  practical  life,  on  the  part 
of  literary  men,  would  be  as  rich  in  benefit  to  them- 


34  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

selves  as  to  men  in  business.  In  handling  that  sub- 
ject, they  would  grow  wiser,  and  would  impart 
more  wisdom.  They  would  have  an  endless  variety 
of  theme.  They  would  discover  that  fictitious  char- 
acters were  no  more  necessary  to  furnish  interest, 
pleasure,  amusement,  surprise,  and  sadness,  than 
fictitious  landscapes  are  necessary  to  furnish  moun- 
tain, forest,  water,  and  sky.  They  would  constantly 
find  moral  problems,  which  might  engage  the  most 
subtle  dialectitians,  and  yet  would  interest  the  stock- 
jobber and  the  shopman. 

To  the  lawyer  who  has  constantly  to  handle 
commercial  transactions,  to  the  judge  who  has  to 
pronounce  upon  them,  to  the  statesman  who  has  to 
balance  conflicting  mercantile  interests,  to  the.school- 
master  who  has  to  train  men  for  business  life,  a 
knowledge  of  all  its  aspects  would  be  invaluable. 
But  to  the  preacher,  above  all,  who  has  constantly 
to  deal  with  men  immersed  in  trade,  it  is  of  an  impor- 
tance not  to  be  calculated  that  he  should  know  the 
life  which  all  the  week  long  his  hearers  are  leading, 
— its  temptations,  its  glosses,  its  rivalries,  its  depres- 
sions, its  joys ;  its  anxieties,  which  cast  the  care  of 
the  soul  into  the  shade;  its  ambitions,  which  out- 
weigh the  claims  of  truth  and  right.  Ignorant  of 
these,  he  must  leave  many  to  flounder  in  tempta- 
tion, whom  he  might  be  the  means  of  extricating ; 
many  to  be  worried  with  care,  when  he  might  win 
their  attention  to  better  things ;  many  to  sink  under 
their  load,  to  whom  he  might  have  given  a  timely 
solace;  many  to  go  on  in  a  course  of  gainful  sin, 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  35 

whose  conscience  lie  might  have  reached  and  arous- 
ed.  Too  often,  the  man  of  business  feels  that  the 
remarks  from  the  pulpit  only  show  that  his  case  is 
not  at  all  understood.  There  are  few  preachers  of 
whom  it  could  be  said,  as  I  have  heard  it  said  of 
Dr.  M'Neile,  that  after  some  of  his  sermons  his 
hearers  felt  as  if  he  had  served  his  time  to  every 
trade  in  the  town.  Dr.  Chalmers,  too,  endeavoured 
worthily  to  bring  the  strong  light  of  his  Christian 
eloquence  to  elucidate  the  j)athway  which  is  ever  so 
crowded,  however  it  may  be  forgotten  by  the 
learned. 

This  exordium  to  our  second  chapter  is  lengthy ; 
but  when  one  begins  to  talk  on  a  new  subject,  it  is 
natural  to  talk  largely.  I  have  now  to  tell  you  of 
a  genuine  son  of  English  commerce :  not  of  one 
who,  like  Gresham,  was  by  birth  a  prince  of  the 
blood  in  the  empire  of  trade ;  but  of  one  who,  begin- 
ning in  the  ranks,  fought  his  way  up  to  eminence : 
not  of  one  who  took  his  stand  among  the  archers 
of  speculation,  and,  drawing  his  bow  at  their  bril- 
liant target,  chanced  to  strike  the  gold ;  but  of  one 
who  rose  by  sheer  dint  of  working,  systematizing, 
and  extending  his  own  legitimate  business :  not  of 
one  who  accumulated  by  the  simple  power  of  reten- 
tion,— getting,  griping,  holding,  and  never  giving ; 
but  of  one  who  was  as  apt  to  scatter  as  to  increase : 
not  of  one  in  whom  early  affluence  and  education 
had  combined  the  polish  of  aristocratic  circles  with 
the  pursuits  of  commercial  life  ;  but  of  one  who  was, 
to  the  last,  the  keen,  bustling,  downright  man  of 


36  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

business :  not  of  one  who  was  so  absorbed  in  trade 
that  he  never  had  a  spare  thought  or  a  spare  mo- 
ment for  recreation,  friendship,  the  interests  of 
others,  the  culture  of  his  mind,  or  the  care  of  his 
soul;  but  of  one  who,  while  passionately  earnest  in 
business,  had  always  a  heart  for  a  friend,  a  hand  for 
the  poor,  an  hour  for  good  worts,  a  relish  for  a 
book,  and  a  lively  solicitude  for  the  things  that 
never  pass  away :  not  of  one  who  moved  in  the 
high  walks  of  cosmopolitan  philanthropy ;  but  of 
one  whose  work  was  wrought  near  his  own  door_ 
among  the  colliers  and  the  lane-side  cots  of  a  pooi 
and  unpolished  neighbourhood.  Such  is  the  tale  1 
have  to  tell ;  do  be  patient,  and  follow  me. 

The  little  Somersetshire  town  of  Wrincrton  has 
been  known  to  the  great  world  only  through  one 
name.  It  was  there  that  the  sage  eye  of  John 
Locke  first  opened  to  the  light.  How  strange,  that, 
age  after  age,  the  natives  of  Wrington  should  pass 
away  unknown,  and  a  single  individual  stand  up 
before  mankind  a  prodigy  and  an  ornament,  greeted 
everywhere  by  the  noble  and  the  wise  with  admir- 
ing obeisance  !  That  one  illustrious  reputation,  over- 
shadowing those  numbers  of  humble  names,  speaks 
to  us  very  weightily  of  a  hand  which  silently  frames 
our  powers  and  allots  our  sphere. 

It  was  in  this  same  quiet  little  town  of  Wrington, 
that  Samuel  Budgett  received  his  birth,  on  the  27th 
of  July,  1794.  But  his  recollections  brought  up  to 
him  no  trace  of  his  native  town.  It  was  to  the  vil- 
lage of  Backwell,  whither  his  parents  had  removed, 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  37 

that  his  first  gleams  of  memory  referred  ;  and  these 
"  were  very  faint."  When  only  five  years  old,  his 
parents  again  removed  ;  fixing-  this  time  at  Nailsea. 
Here  it  is  that  his  recollection  begins  fully  to  retain 
events.  Of  some  of  these  we  have  records  in  his 
own  words.  A  young  friend,  to  whom,  late  in  life, 
he  had  become  much  attached,  and  who  knew  how 
to  estimate  the  remarkable  man  whose  intimacy  she 
had  gained,  set  her  heart  on  preserving  his  own 
animated  narratives  of  the  leading  occurrences  in 
his  career.  She  was  able  to  carry  out  her  purpose 
only  as  tar  as  regarded  his  earliest  years ;  then  op- 
portunities never  recurred  till  disease  and  death 
closed  the  lips  from  which  she  would,  otherwise, 
have  collected  many  a  tale  pregnant  with  interest 
and  with  lessons.  Our  opportunities  of  laying  his 
own  words  before  the  reader  will  be  so  few,  that 
some  of  these  early  recitals,  which  might  otherwise 
have  been  passed  over,  may  be  given,  to  permit  the 
man  to  make  his  own  impression. 

It  may  generally  be  assumed,  that  those  events 
of  childhood  which  leave  a  permanent  impression 
oa  the  memory,  have  had  considerable  influence  in 
moulding  the  character.  Adventures  which  are 
trivial  as  possible  in  their  external  history,  may  be 
so  frequently  present  to  the  early  reflections,  and 
may  mingle  with  so  much  of  early  thougljt,  that 
their  place  in  the  inner  history  is  altogether  dispro- 
portioned  to  their  seeming  importance.  Mr.  Bud- 
gett  thus  narrates  "the  very  first  recollection  of 
importance  "  which  he  preserved  : — 


38  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

"  The  very  first  recollection  of  importance  I  have 
is  that  of  a  Mr.  Taylor,  an  Irish  gentleman,  coming 
to  lodge  in  my  father's  house,  and  offering  to  un- 
dertake the  education  of  the  children  ;  and  although 
my  parents  were  both  extremely  kind  and  indul- 
gent, so  far  was  it  from  producing,  as  it  ought  to 
have  done,  anything  like  hope  or  pleasure,  I  re- 
member distinctly  such  fear  was  produced  in  my 
mind,  (although  I  am  not  aware  that  he  ever  spoke 
an  unkind  word  to  me,)  that,  for  a  short  time, 
annihilation  seemed  preferable  to  life  itself;  and 
life  became  a  complete  burden,  from  no  other  cause 
than  the  idea  I  had  formed  of  his  warmth  of  tem- 
per. My  mind,  however,  was  completely  relieved 
when  the  proposition  was  not  accepted.  This  cir- 
cumstance left  an  indelible  impression,  and  pro- 
duced great  care,  in  after  life,  to  prevent  a  recur- 
rence of  the  kind  in  the  case  of  my  own  children." 

This  first  glimpse  at  his  character  brings  to  light 
two  things : — an  extreme  sensitiveness,  a  painful 
heart-sinking  timidity ;  and  a  habit  of  treasuring 
up  a  lesson  from  the  past,  to  apply  it  to  the  emer- 
gencies of  the  future.  The  former  of  these  cha- 
racteristics was  probably  physical ;  the  latter  was 
one  of  his  great  elements  of  power  and  success. 
The  terror  he  had  felt  was  not  looked  back  upon 
with  a»  smile,  as  a  mere  childish  folly ;  but  was 
carefully  preserved  in  vieAV  as  a  guard  against  allow- 
ing similar  distress  to  be  coupled  in  the  mind  of 
one  of  his  own  children  with  their  education. 

The  next  of  his  early  recollections  is  this : — 


THE   BOKN   MERCHANT.  39 

"  About  the  Scime  time,  I  remember  a  remarkable 
dream  of  my  father's.  After  having  lost  a  black 
mare  for  some  weeks,  supposing  it  to  have  been 
stolen,  he  had  given  up  all  search ;  and  when  he 
awoke  one  morning,  he  said, '  Betsy,  I  have  dreamed 
that  I  found  the  mare  at  Kingston  Seamore,  grazing 
on  the  moors ;  and  the  dream  is  so  distinct,  I  '11  go 
and  see.'  He  soon  obtained  a  horse,  and  rode  off. 
My  mother  having  told  us  of  it,  we  were  in  full 
expectation,  towards  evening,  of  my  father's  return  ; 
and  a  little  before  dusk,  as  Ave  were  all  looking  out, 
big  with  expectation  and  hope,  the  gate  flew  open, 
and  in  rode  my  father  on  the  horse  with  which  he 
left  home  in  the  morning,  and  leading  the  black 
mare  in  his  right  hand,  with  his  pocket-handker- 
chief filled  with  a  quantity  of  crabs  and  other  live 
fish  which  he  brought  home  for  our  amusement. 
The  delight  and  glee  which  we  all  felt  on  his  ar- 
rival, at  his  success,  and  on  beholding  for  the  first 
time  animals  of  this  kind  crawling  on  the  large 
stones  before  our  door,  may  more  easily  be  con- 
ceived than  described,  and  left  an  impression 
which  will  never  be  effaced,  as  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  events  that  could  happen ;  particularly 
as  during  the  loss  of  the  horse,  the  children  par- 
ticipated in  the  feelings  of  the  parents,  supposing 
we  were  well-nigh  ruined." 

This  again  brings  to  light  one  of  the  most 
powerful  elements  in  forming  his  character  and 
fixing  his  pursuits, — a  lively  sympathy  in  the 
concerns  of  his  family.     Few  boys  of  five  or  six 


40  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

would  feel  so  intensely  about  the  injury  arising  to 
their  parents  from  the  loss  of  a  horse,  that  its  re- 
covery should  form,  ever  after,  one  of  the  chief 
events  of  early  life.  But  we  shall  abundantly  see, 
as  we  proceed,  that  this  early  activity  of  family 
affection  was  a  true  index  of  his  heart. 

Perhaps  this  adventure  of  the  lost  mare  also 
affected  his  character  in  another  way.  Here,  at 
the  outset  of  life,  his  feelings  had  been  intensely 
wrought  upon  in  connexion  with  a  horse.  The 
horse  had  been  made  to  appear  a  treasure  and  a 
friend.  In  after  life,  he  was  remarkable  for  his 
love  of  horses ;  and  we  shall  find  his  benevolence 
making  a  singular  use  of  that  peculiarity.  Perhaps 
the  loss  of  the  black  mare  at  Nailsea  was  the  secret 
of  that  fancy  to  which  some  of  his  poor  neighbours 
at  Kingswood  were  indebted  for  the  gift  of  a  good 
horse. 

What  child  has  not  his  escapes  ?  They  too 
often  leave  important  traces  both  in  the  physical 
and  mental  history.  Besides  a  terrible  accident  in 
a  tan-pit,  where  he  was  hardly  rescued  from  drown- 
ing, he  had  a  mishap  which  left  a  mark  upon  his 
countenance  to  the  end.  He  thus  describes  his 
most  memorable  escape  : — 

"We  then  lived  in  a  large  and  respectable 
house,'  belonging  to  the  late  James  Davis,  Esq.,  of 
Bristol,  having  large  entrance-gates  on  the  left 
hand  of  a  long  yard  opposite  the  house  door.  On 
the  right  hand  was  a  very  nice  cherry  orchard ;  on 
the  left  hand,  going  from  the  cherry  orchard  to  the 


THE  BORN   MERCHANT.  41 

alcove,  was  a  flight  of  steps  leading  to  the  kitchen 
garden ;  at  the  bottom  of  which  was  a  bathing 
pond  :  and  on  one  occasion,  when  this  was  emptied, 
a  large  quantity  of  mud  had  collected  at  the  bot- 
tom, which  was  drawn  away  by  a  cart  with  three 
horses.  As  the  cart  was  moving  on,  when  loaded, 
from  the  pond,  I  (being  between  five  and  six  years 
of  age)  ran  before  the  wheel,  and  falling  on  my 
back,  the  broad  wheel  passed  over  the  top  of  my 
right  thigh,  across  my  body,  over  the  left  shoulder, 
grazing  my  chin,  and  has  left  a  mark  to  this  day. 
My  father  took  me  up,  and  carried  me  in,  supposing 
me  dead ;  but  on  being  bled,  I  recovered,  and  was 
soon  better." 

Such  a  shock  Avas  not  calculated  to  abate  the 
sensitiveness  from  which  he  so  much  suffered. 

"In  1801,"  he  says,  "we  removed  to  Kings- 
wood.  I  remember,  there,  father  and  mother 
taking  a  shop  which  was  termed  '  the  great  shop 
on  the  cassi/'1  (causeway)."  Two  years  afterwards, 
this  shop  was  left  in  the  hands  of  a  brother,  many 
years  older  than  he,  and  the  son  of  another  mo- 
ther. On  this  occasion  the  family  removed  to 
Coleford,  "  where,"  he  says,  "  my  parents  opened  a 
small  general  shop." 

The  same  benevolent  Power  which  sends  among: 
mankind  some  qualified,  by  special  genius,  to  ad- 
vance their  knowledge,  manners,  or  polity,  also 
sends  some  qualified,  by  special  genius,  to  advance 
their  commercial  development.  Such  a  man  was 
Samuel  Budgett.     He  was  born  a  merchant,  just 


42  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

as  other  men  have  been  born  poets,  painters,  or 
mathematicians.  Genius  lies  in  intuition  and  im- 
pulse,— an  inborn  aptitude  to  perform  a  certain 
thing,  and  an  inborn  desire  to  perform  it.  Dr. 
Johnson's  definition,  "a  mind  of  large  general 
powers,  accidentally  determined  in  some  particular 
direction,"  applies  to  the  highest  order  of  the 
human  mind ;  but  shoots  above  the  majority  of 
those  who  possess  proper  genius,  which  often 
exists,  remarkably,  in  persons  not  gifted  with 
"  large  general  powers,"  and  not  capable  of  pre- 
eminence in  any  direction  but  the  one  to  which 
their  "  genius  "  leads  them.  Large  general  powers 
may  take  their  direction  accidentally ;  genius  does 
not.  It  always  sets  its  possessor  on  his  own  par- 
ticular path.  An  old  lady  in  Nottinghamshire, 
who  happens  to  imagine  that  dead  people  dwell 
in  the  moon,  has  only  to  provoke  the  boy-lord  of 
Newstead  Abbey,  when  he  breaks  out, — 

"  In  Nottingham  county,  there  lives,  at  Swan  Green, 
As  cursed  an  old  lady  as  ever  was  seen ; 
And  when  she  shall  die,  which  I  hope  will  be  soon, 
She  firmly  believes  that  she  '11  go  to  the  moon." 

There  it  was ;  the  impulse  to  put  his  passion  into 
verse,  and  the  ability  to  do  it.  The  old  lady  might 
have  provoked  all  the  other  boys  in  Nottingham- 
shire, and  not  found  one,  whatever  were  his  general 
powers,  who  would  have  vented  his  irritation  in 
that  form.  So  Watts,  when  whipped  for  rhyming, 
begged  pardon  in  rhyme.  So  Pascal,  when  still 
carefully     prevented     from     seeing     mathematical 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  43 

books,  is  found  working  demonstrations  on  the 
floor,  with  charcoal,  calling-  his  lines  bars,  and  his 
circles  rounds.  So  Chantrey,  sent  to  sell  milk,  is 
busy  carving  heads  on  a  walking-stick.  So  Jack- 
son, set  upon  a  tailor's  board,  is  perpetually  draw- 
ing pictures  with  his  chalk.  So  Arkwright,  deep 
in  dyeing  wigs,  is  planning  the  perpetual  motion. 
So  James  "Watt,  placed  at  a  tea-table,  is  pondering 
the  properties  of  steam.  Thus  it  ever  is ;  if  a  man 
has  naturally  the  power  of  genius,  he  spontaneously 
exerts  it.  The  power  would  be  useless  without  the 
impulse.  In  the  case  before  us,  the  power  was 
specially  commercial,  and  the  impulse  took  that 
bent.  Just  as  other  boys  naturally  betook  them- 
selves to  rhyming,  sketching,  or  making  models; 
so  Samuel  Budgett  naturally  betook  himself  to 
making  bargains.  That  was  his  sphere,  and  he 
entered  upon  it  early. 

At  Coleford,  when  about  ten  years  of  age,  he 
began  to  display  his  mercantile  predilections,  and 
to  lay  the  foundation  of  his  habits  and  his  fortune. 
His  own  account  of  his  first  essay  in  merchandise, 
and  his  first  possession  of  money,  is  very  straight- 
forward. 

"  The  first  money  I  ever  recollect  possessing  was 
g'ained  in  the  following  way: — I  went  to  Mr. 
Milks,  of  Kilmersdon,  to  school,  a  distance  of  three 
miles.  One  day,  on  my  way,  I  picked  up  a  horse- 
shoe, and  carried  it  about  three  miles,  and  sold  it 
to  a  blacksmith  for  a  penny.  That  was  the  first 
penny  I  ever  recollect  possessing ;  and  I  kept  it  for 


44  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

some  time.  A  few  weeks  after,  the  same  man 
called  my  attention  to  a  boy  who  was  carrying  off 
some  dirt  opposite  his  door ;  and  offered,  if  I  would 
beat  the  boy,  who  was  a  bigger  boy  than  myself, 
to  give  me  a  penny.  I  did  so ;  he  made  a  mark 
upon  it,  and  promised  if  I  would  bring  it  to  him 
that  day  fortnight,  he  would  give  me  another.  I 
took  it  to  him  at  the  appointed  time,  when  he  ful- 
filled his  promise,  and  I  thus  became  possessed  of 
threepence  ;  since  which  I  have  never  been  without, 
except  when  I  gave  it  all  away." 

One  would  not  have  imagined,  in  seeing  the  little 
schoolboy  stop  and  look  at  the  old  horseshoe,  that 
the  turning  point  of  his  life  had  come.  But  so  it 
was.  He  converts  that  horseshoe  into  his  first 
penny,  and  never  wants  a  penny  more.  Had  he 
not  picked  it  up ;  had  he  "  never  thought,"  as  peo- 
ple so  naturally  say ;  or,  having  thought  of  it,  had 
he  felt  ashamed  to  offer  such  a  thing  for  sale ;  or 
had  he  set  it  down  as  too  much  trouble  to  carry  an 
old  horseshoe  for  three  miles,  probably  he  would  not 
have  had  a  penny  for  many  a  day,  and  would  have 
often  "been  without"  afterwards.  Do  you  think, 
young  man,  that  you  could  use  such  an  opportunity 
to  any  purpose  ?  If  so,  you  may  rely  upon  finding 
a  horseshoe  in  your  path,  some  day.  Those  men 
whom  we  see  often  without  a  penny,  have,  all  of 
them,  passed  by  the  horseshoe  in  their  path  when 
they  were  boys.  And  those  other  men,  who,  from 
nothing,  are  rising  up  rapidly  above  their  neigh- 
bours, have  all  had  the  sense  to  seize  the  horseshoe, 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  45 

and  turn  it  into  the  foundation  of  a  fortune.  Paths 
vary,  but  every  boy,  if  his  eyes  be  open,  will  cer- 
tainly find  the  horseshoe  in  his  path,  at  one  point  or 
another. 

Mr.  Budget t  was  one  day  riding  in  a  lane  near 
his  own  residence,  when  he  saw  a  boy  following  the 
track  of  a  hay-cart  and  picking  up  the  tufts  of  hay 
that  fell.  He  at  once  put  his  hand  in  his  pocket, 
and  gave  the  boy  a  shilling.  Doubtless  he  bethought 
him,  then,  of  his  own  horseshoe,  and  hoped  his 
young  neighbour  was  finding  his. 

And  that  is  an  expressive  note  which  closes  the 
record  of  his  first  fortunes,  "  Since  which,  I  have 
never  been  without,  except  when  I  gave  it  all  away? 
Mark  it,  for  we  shall  find  something  to  call  it  to  mind. 

Here  is  the  history  of  his  second  attempt  at 
making  money : — 

"The  next  addition  to  my  stock  of  money  was, 
when  one  of  my  sisters,  in  drawing  molasses,  had 
let  it  run  over,  and  a  considerable  quantity  was 
wasted.  After  taking  up  what  she  thought  was 
worth  saving,  and  being  about  to  wash  away  the  re- 
mainder, I  ran  to  my  mother  and  said,  '  Mother, 
may  I  scrape  up  that  molasses,  and  sell  it  for  my- 
self V  Having  gained  her  consent,  I  set  to  work, 
scraped  it  up  as  clean  as  possible,  and  sold  it  for 
three  halfpence.  Thus,  by  little  and  little,  my  fund 
became  augmented,  until  I  had  enough  to  purchase 
'  Wesley's  Hymns,'  and  I  considered  myself  a  rich 
and  happy  boy." 

In  this  case,  again,  we  see  his  impulse  to  convert 


46  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

to  gain  that  which  others  would  let  run  to  loss.  The 
"  little  and  little  "  of  which  he  speaks,  was  little  and 
little  indeed.  A  surviving  brother  describes  him  as 
perpetually  trading.  When  at  school  he  found  that 
for  a  halfpenny  he  got  only  six  marbles,  but  for  a 
penny  fourteen.  By  buying  a  pennyworth,  and 
selling  to  his  comrades  .  two  different  halfpenny- 
worths, he  earned  two  marbles  honestly;  and  so 
drove  a  profitable  trade.  Lozenges  were  also  in  re- 
quest at  school ;  and  he  found  that  a  similar  law  of 
commerce  obtained  in  lozenges  as  in  marbles, — the 
large  purchaser  had  an  advantage  over  the  small. 
Therefore,  he  bought  in  pennyworths  and  sold  in 
halfpennyworths,  ever  making  head.  This  trade 
returned  a  good  profit  on  the  capital,  and  was,  more- 
over, perfectly  safe.  But  it  seems  in  the  nature  of 
the  merchant  to  make  large  and  hazardous  ventures 
as  his  funds  thrive.  Accordingly,  the  growing  means 
of  our  juvenile  tradesman  tempted  him  to  seek  a 
larger  sphere.  One  day,  on  the  way  to  school,  he 
encountered  a  woman  bearing  a  basket  of  cucum- 
bers. He  asked  the  price,  and  to  her  surprise,  and 
his  brother's  discomfiture,  would  know  the  price  of 
the  whole  store.  It  was  in  vain  for  his  brother  to 
remonstrate  ;  he  would  buy,  and  he  would  sell.  The 
old  woman  finding  him  really  in  earnest,  concluded 
a  bargain,  and  the  cucumbers  became  his  own.  It 
was  not  a  very  likely  investment  for  the  capital  of  a 
schoolboy ;  but  his  energy  made  it  answer.  The 
cucumbers  were  all  sold,  at,  I  think,  the  notable 
profit  of  ninepence. 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  47 

Yet  the  boy  who  had  this  singular  passion  for 
trade,  and  with  it  a  tenacious  care  of  money,  had 
his  heart  set  on  something  nobler  than  a  plentiful 
store  of  pelf.  When,  "  by  little  and  little,"  his  ori- 
ginal penny  had  swollen  to  some  shillings,  he  invests 
it  all  in  a  purchase  that  can  yield  no  return  but 
poetry  and  devotion, — the  two  things  one  would 
least  expect  to  find  dwelling  in  the  same  heart  with 
this  marvellous  love  of  traffic.  You  see  the  little 
merchant  counting  over  his  profits,  and  think  what 
a  lover  of  money  he  will  be.  You  then  see  him 
making  haste  to  exchange  it  for  "  Wesley's  Hymns ;" 
and  as  he  eagerly  clasps  his  new  purchase,  you  are 
ready  to  think  that  it,  also,  is  to  sell  and  get  gain. 
But,  no ;  it  is  to  read,  and  learn,  and  sing.  And 
lo  !  with  this  possession,  he  feels  himself  "  a  rich  and 
happy  boy."  There  is  something  more  in  that 
young  heart  than  appetite  for  gold. 

From  this  original  trade  in  small  wares,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  deal  in  live  stock.  "I  still  went  on  to 
accumulate,  by  seizing  every  opportunity;  such  as 
buying  a  few  eggs  or  chickens,  a  young  donkey  or 
pig."  The  adventure  of  the  young  donkey  so  lies 
at  the  base  of  his  mercantile  character,  and  was  wont 
to  be  recounted  by  himself  with  such  zest,  that  it  is 
well  we  have  it  in  his  own  words. 

"  I  was  one  day  coming  from  Leigh,  when  about 
twelve  years  of  age,  and  saw  a  man  walking  along 
with  an  old  donkey  and  a  young  one.  I  asked  the 
price  of  the  young  one.  He  said,  two-and-sixpence. 
I  tried  to  see  if  he  would  take  less ;  but  finding  he 


48  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

would  not,  got  a  cord,  put  it  round  his  neck,  paid 
the  two-and-sixpence,  took  it  home,  and  kept  it  a 
few  clays ;  then  sold  it  to  a  Mrs.  Ellis  for  five  shil- 
lings ;  but  she  said  she  had  no  money,  but  would 
pay  in  the  course  of  the  week.  I  objected  to  leave 
it  without  security.  But  here  a  difficulty  arose,  as 
she  had  no  security  to  offer,  but  a  pair  of  new  stays 
which  had  just  cost  ten  shillings.  '0!'  said  I, 
'  there  is  nothing  like  that,  because  it  is  easily  car- 
ried.' So  on  receiving  them,  I  carried  them  all 
through  the  village  in  my  hand,  and  said,  '  Mother, 
here's  a  pair  of  stays.  I  have  sold  the  donkey ; 
Mrs.  Ellis  will  call  and  pay  five  shillings ;  be  sure 
and  not  let  her  have  the  stays  without  the  money.' 
The  donkey,  however,  unfortunately  died ;  and  she 
wished  to  have  the  stays  returned  without  the 
money ;  but  in  vain,  as  I  believed  the  death  was 
occasioned  by  want  of  proper  treatment;  and  by 
that  I  learned,  '  A  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two  in 
the  bush.' " 

This  principle  of  the  bird  in  the  hand  may  seem 
manageable  enough,  in  the  case  of  an  amateur  mer- 
chant not  yet  in  his  teens ;  or  even,  perhaps,  in  the 
tiny  transactions  of  a  village  shop.  But  many 
would  pronounce  it  quite  inapplicable  to  extensive 
wholesale  transactions;  at  least,  in  an  age  when 
lengthened  credit  is  so  essential  a  part  of  commer- 
cial economy.  Few  would  attempt  so  to  apply  it ; 
and  fewer  still  would  carry  out  the  attempt.  But 
you  can  already  discover  in  the  boy-merchant  a 
power  to  push  his  purpose.     He  intends  to  have 


THE   BORN  MERCHANT.  40 

the  money  for  his  donkey.  His  neighbour  cannot 
pay,  just  then.  Any  ordinary  boy  would  abandon 
his  point,  and  take  the  promise.  But  he  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  be  paid,  and  paid  he  must  be,  no 
matter  whether  in  shillings  or  in  stays.  Perhaps,  had 
all  gone  smoothly  in  this  case,  he  might  afterwards 
have  been  less  strict.  But  it  soon  proves  that  the 
stays  in  hand  are  his  only  protection  from  the  loss 
of  his  entire  two-and-sixpence.  That  was  a  lesson 
he  was  not  the  man  to  forget.  It  was  treasured  up, 
like  the  lessons  of  other  early  events.  "  A  bird  in 
the  hand  is  worth  two  in  the  bush,"  becomes  one  of 
his  standing  axioms.  And  when  he  has  become 
one  of  the  most  extensive  merchants  in  England, 
the  principle  taught  by  the  death  of  the  donkey  is 
strengthened  and  elevated  by  a  conviction  that  a 
system  of  cash  payments,  introduced  generally  into 
commerce,  would  save  thousands  of  families  from 
ruin,  and  would  save  the  country  in  times  of  de- 
pression from  those  series  of  bankruptcies  which 
follow  each  other  like  a  train  of  explosions  in  a  mine. 
True,  he  encounters  immense  difficulty  in  pursuing 
this  course.  Every  day  presents  temptations  to  de- 
part from  it.  Many  a  large  and  safe  customer,  will 
not  submit  to  conditions  which  other  houses  do  not 
impose.  His  natural  passion  for  a  vast  commerce 
is  strong.  Endless  opportunities  of  extension  open, 
if  he  will  only  forego  his  rule.  But,  no :  he  settled 
it  when  a  boy ;  "  A  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two 
in  the  bush."  Now  that  he  is  a  man,  he  may  doubt 
whether  he  could  not  widen  his  sphere  and  multiply 

1 


50  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

his  gain  by  a  "  more  liberal "  course ;  but  bis  system 
bas  been  smiled  upon  by  Providence,  and  be  is  con- 
vinced tbat  one  example  of  success,  on  such  a  sys- 
tem, may  be  an  incalculable  public  benefit ;  there- 
fore, to  the  day  of  bis  death,  if  you  transact  with 
him  you  must  transact  in  cash. 

Most  of  the  maxims  by  which  men  of  original 
mind  guide  their  course  are  derived  from  their  oavii 
observation.  We  have  already  seen  tbat  this  was 
the  case  with  the  principle  which  led  Mr.  Budgett 
to  aim  at  a  system  of  cash  payments ;  it  is  also  the 
case  with  the  principle  upon  which  he  relied  for  suc- 
cess in  that  difficult  course.  Among  his  reminis- 
cences of  boyhood,  no  single  one  more  completely 
displays  the  born  merchant  than  the  following,  in 
which  we  find  him  philosophizing  with  acumen  and 
advantage  on  the  business  habits  of  others  : — 

"I  remember,  about  1806  or  180*7,  a  young  man 

called  on  my  mother,  from  Mr.  D ,  of  Shepton, 

to  solicit  orders  in  the  grocery  trade.  His  intro- 
duction and  mode  of  treating  my  mother  were  nar- 
rowly watched  by  me,  particularly  when  she  asked 
the  price  of  several  articles.  On  going  in  to  my 
father,  she  remarked  there  would  be  no  advantage 

in  dealing  with  Mr.  D ,  as  she  could  not  see 

that  his  prices  were  any  lower  than  those  she  was 
in  the  habit  of  giving.  I  slipped  aside,  and  began 
to  think,  '  Why,  that  young  man  might  have  got 
my  mother's  trade,  if  he  had  known  how ;  if,  in- 
stead of  mentioning  so  many  articles,  he  had  just 
offered  one  or  two,  at  a  lower  price  than  we  have 


THE  BORN   MERCHANT.  51 

been  in  the  habit  of  giving,  she  would  have  been 
induced  to  try  those  articles;  and  thus  he  would 
have  been  introduced,  most  likely,  to  her  whole 
trade.  Besides,  his  manner  was  rather  loose,  and 
not  of  the  most  modest  and  attractive  kind.'  I  be- 
lieve the  practical  lesson  then  learned  has,  since  that, 
been  worth  to  me  thousands  of  pounds, — namely, 
Self-interest  is  the  mainspring  of  human  actions ; 
you  have  only  to  lay  before  persons,  in  a  strong 
light,  that  what  you  propose  is  to  their  own  interest, 
and  you  Avill  generally  accomplish  your  purpose." 

Little  did  the  unsuccessful  traveller  imagine  that 
the  very  little  boy  whom  he  had  seen  in  the  shop 
was  pondering  the  causes  of  his  ill  success,  and 
eliciting  a  principle  which  would  prove  to  him  a 
spring  of  commercial  power.  He  saw  the  precise 
point  in  which  the  man  failed, — he  had  not  shown 
his  mother  that  in  dealing  with  him  she  would  serve 
herself.  Had  he  done  so,  she  would  certainly  have 
become  his  customer.  He  at  once  educes  a  general 
principle  from  this  individual  fact : — All  buyers  will 
feel  as  his  mother  feels ;  they  buy  not  to  serve  the 
person  from  whom  they  purchase,  but  to  serve 
themselves :  the  reason  of  this  is,  that  "  Self-interest 
is  the  mainspring  of  human  actions ;"  and  the  prac- 
tical use  of  this  fact  is,  that  "  you  have  only  to  show 
people  that  what  you  propose  is  to  their  own  in- 
terest, and  you  will  generally  accomplish  your  pur- 
pose." He  now  settles  it  in  his  mind,  that  in  his 
future  dealings  with  men  it  will  be  necessary  that 
he  provide  himself  with  a  case  which,  when  fairly 


52  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MEKCHANT. 

looked  at,  will  convince  them  that  their  interest  lies 
in  purchasing  from  him.  It  may  be  difficult  to  oh 
tain  such  a  case;  but  if  he  can  only  enlist  self 
interest  on  his  side,  he  counts  infallibly  on  success. 
In  this  as  in  other  cases,  he  tenaciously  held  by 
his  early  conclusion.  His  axiom  was,  that  you  had 
no  firm  basis  of  success,  but  the  conviction  on  the 
part  of  others,  that,  in  coming  to  you,  they  pro- 
moted their  own  ends.  Therefore,  he  resolutely 
endeavoured  so  to  construct  his  system  that  a  rule 
should  never  be  sacrificed  to  a  customer;  but  that 
the  customer  should  be  told  that  such  was  the  rule 
of  the  firm,  and  if  it  were  not  to  his  advantage  to 
deal  with  them,  they  should  be  sorry  for  him  to  do 
so. 

His  system  of  cash  payments  seemed,  at  first 
sight,  to  be  in  conflict  with  the  principle  of  engag- 
ing self-interest  on  his  behalf.  His  customers  would 
think  he  denied  them  advantages  which  others  con- 
ceded. But,  firmly  persuaded  in  his  own  mind 
that  the  reverse  was  the  case,  he  relied  on  the  good- 
ness of  his  ground,  and  thought  he  could  "  show 
them,  in  a  strong  light,"  that  on  his  system  they 
obtained  advantages  much  more  substantial  than 
those  conferred  by  the  usual  term  of  credit. 

Thus  did  he  pass  his  early  boyhood,  gaining 
at  once  profits  from  trade  and  principles  from  ex- 
perience ;  laying  up  a  store  of  money,  and  laying 
up  a  far  more  valuable  store  of  maxims.  By  the 
time  he  had  reached  his  fourteenth  year,  he  was  an 
old   merchant   in   practice   and  in   sagacity;    and 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  53 

thirty  pounds  in  sterling-  cash  was  the  fruit  of  his 
boyish  barter.  The  time  now  came  when  he  must 
set  forth  into  the  world.  He  was  apprenticed  to 
his  elder  brother  at  Kingswood.  One  would  ex- 
pect that  he  would  march  forth  to  his  apprenticeship 
exulting  in  his  wealth,  and  full  of  visions  as  to  the 
golden  days  to  come.  Already,  his  penny  had  be- 
come thirty  pounds;  that  is,  his  original  capital 
multiplied  seven  thousand  two  hundred  times. 
What  might  not  his  present  capital  become,  if  used 
with  equal  ability?  Such  would  be  the  calcula- 
tions, such  the  emotions,  one  would  naturally  look 
for  in  this  boy,  as  he  turned  his  steps  to  face  the 
world.  But  how  does  his  own  simple  record  of 
what  then  happened  falsify  our  anticipations : — 

"  By  the  time  I  left  Coleford  for  Kingswood, 
when  I  was  between  fourteen  and  fifteen  years  of 
age,  I  had  saved  thirty  pounds,  which  I  presented 
to  my  parents  ;  which  they  intended  returning,  but 
were  incapable."' 

Ah  !  this  recalls  to  one's  mind  that  singular  note 
with  which  he  closes  the  account  of  his  first  penny, 
"  and  I  was  never  without  afterwards,  except  when 
I  gave  it  all  away."  What !  he  give  "  all  away ;" 
— the  boy  that  would  carry  a  horseshoe  three  miles 
to  make  a  penny ;  that  would  trade  and  save,  and 
save  and  trade,  till  pence  became  shillings,  and 
shillings  pounds  ;  that  would  take  Mrs.  Ellis's  stays, 
rather  than  trust  her,  lest  he  should  lose  his  crown ; 
— this  boy  give  away !  One  would  have  expected 
him  to  be  a  copper-hearted  little  miser.      Perhaps 


54  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

you  would ;  but  lie  was  not  a  miser,  he  was  a  mer- 
chant. His  passion  was  for  trade,  not  for  gold. 
The  joy  of  the  miser  is  a  great  hoard ;  the  joy  of 
the  merchant,  a  successful  transaction.  You  may 
find  one  man  who  is  both  miser  and  merchant ; 
another  who  is  miser  and  no  merchant;  and  an- 
other who  is  merchant  and  no  miser.  Samuel 
Budgett  was  the  latter ;  a  merchant  by  nature,  a 
merchant  in  extreme ;  but  his  soul  was  as  far  above 
the  soul  of  a  miser  as  the  soul  of  a  philosopher  is 
above  that  of  a  pedant.  While  a  due  sense  of 
the  value  of  money  is  an  absolute  prerequisite 
to  commercial  success,  an  excessive  love  of  it  is  a 
drawback  rather  than  a  fitness  for  high  mercantile 
adventure.  The  danger  of  Mr.  Budgett  did  not  lie 
in  an  excessive  love  of  money,  but  it  did  lie  in  an 
excessive  love  of  a  good  bargain. 

It  was,  certainly,  a  remarkable  combination  of 
character,  by  which  this  boy  had  the  keen  love  of 
trade  and  the  rigid  care  of  money  that  enabled  him 
to  gather  so  fast,  and  yet  the  heart  which  made 
him  feel  "  rich  and  happy "  when  he  had  parted 
with  his  first  bright  store  for  the  sacred  lyrics  of 
Charles  Wesley,  and  which  impelled  him,  when  on 
the  eve  of  apprenticeship,  to  take  the  whole  of  his 
thirty  pounds  and  "  present  it  to  his  parents,"  turn- 
ing to  face  the  world  without  even  the  parent  penny 
that  sprang  from  his  old  horseshoe !  As  he  sets 
forth  on  the  hard  path  of  life,  fresh  from  this  filial 
offering,  who  does  not  see  beauty  and  blessing  rest- 
ing on  the  head  of  the  penniless  apprentice  ?     When 


THE  BORN  MERCHANT.  55 

he  took  that  tempting-  thirty  pounds  which  exalted 
him  above  his  comrade  boys,  and  laid  it  all  in  the 
hand  of  his  good  mother,  it  was  the  best  venture  of 
his  life.  Young  man  !  rely  upon  this,  No  invest- 
ment under  the  sky  is  so  sure  as  a  'parents  blessing. 
Temporal  welfare  is  made  over  to  the  dutiful  son, 
by  "  the  first  commandment  with  promise."  Show 
me  the  young  man  whose  hat  has  lost  its  nap, 
wdiose  coat  is  dim  and  bare,  whose  gloves  are  far 
worn,  who  walks  when  his  comrades  ride,  who  en- 
tertains no  one,  who  sees  few  sights,  who  never  has 
a  spare  shilling,  but  whose  mother  at  home,  every 
now  and  then,  drops  a  tear  over  new  tokens  of  his 
self-denial ;  and  far,  far  rather  would  I  purchase  the 
prospects  of  that  young  man,  than  of  one  whose 
hat  is  bright,  his  coat  new,  his  gloves  spruce,  who 
can  jaunt  to-day  and  entertain  to-morrow,  but 
whose  mother,  when  neighbours  inquire  for  her  boy, 
says  he  was.  well  when  last  she  heard,  hiding  in  the 
solitude  of  her  aching  heart  how  long  it  is  since  a 
letter  came. 

What,  then,  were  the  natural  elements,  and  what 
the  early  influence  from  home,  from  religion,  from 
school,  or  from  early  associations  and  occurrences, 
that  went  to  form  the  character  of  this  remarkable 
boy? 


56  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER. 

"In  every  work  that  he  began he  did  it  with  all  his 

heart,  and  prospered." — 2  Chkon.  xxxi,  21. 

The  chief  causes  that  unite  to  give  a  man  the  stamp 
which  the  world  calls  his  character,  are,  natural 
qualities,  parental  and  family  influence,  school-train- 
ing, early  adventures  and  associates,  and  above  all, 
religious  impressions.  The  last  none  can  ever  trace 
except  the  man  himself;  but  they  modify  the  other 
constituents  of  character  with  a  power  limited  only 
by. their  own  intensity. 

As  to  natural  qualities,  the  most  prominent  fea- 
ture in  Mr.  Budgett's  case  has  already  been  dwelt 
ujDon,  namely,  his  commercial  genius.  A  swift  in- 
tuition of  character  and  of  probabilities  was  the 
most  obvious  source  of  his  power.  With  a  rapidity 
almost  incredible  he  read  a  man  or  unravelled  a 
complex  set  of  circumstances.  He  soon  acquired 
great  confidence  in  this  intuition,  seldom  hesitating 
to  act  upon  it  either  as  to  an  individual  or  as  to  a 
transaction.  And  all  his  friends  would  closely  watch 
that  man  whom  his  first  glance  distrusted,  and  would 
prosecute  hopefully  that  transaction  which  he  de- 
clared promising. 


THE  BASIS  OF   CHARACTER.  57 

With  this  faculty  was  most  happily  combined  an 
uncommon  logical  power  of  tracing  out  in  strict  se- 
quence, step  by  step,  the  probable  result  of  a  chain 
of  circumstances.  He  could  arrange,  in  his  own 
mind,  beforehand,  the  separate  turns  and  details  of 
a  negotiation ;  and  put  down  on  paper  the  points 
that  weighed  on  this  side  and  those  that  weighed 
on  that,  and  then  mark  precisely  the  line  where  he 
could  act  with  advantage.  I  have  had  before  me  a 
calculation  of  this  kind,  made  late  in  life,  which  re- 
markably shows  that  though  always  ready  to  act 
upon  his  rapid  intuition  when  circumstances  com- 
pelled him  so  to  do,  he  was  equally  disposed,  when 
opportunity  allowed,  to  forecast  every  step  he  took. 
In  fact  so  far  did  he  carry  the  latter  habit,  that  he 
never  issued  from  his  library  for  a  day's  duty  without 
having  arranged  on  paper  all  the  steps  to  be  taken 
that  day ;  and  never  went  to  converse  on  any  im- 
portant matter,  without  having  noted  down  the 
points  to  be  raised.  In  thus  checking  and  disci- 
plining intuition,  often  lies  the  difference  between  a 
wise  man  and  a  rash  one.  A  man  finds  that  often 
his  first  impressions  prove  correct,  and  his  first  im- 
pulses right.  He  also  sometimes  finds  that  when 
he  has  allowed  subsequent  consideration  to  reverse 
his  first  impression,  or  subsequent  persuasion  to 
check  his  first  impulse,  he  was  wrong.  He  thence 
concludes  that  he  is  always  right  in  his  first  impres- 
sions and  first  impulses.  "I  never  am  dissuaded 
from  my  own  judgment  but  I  repent  of  it  after- 
wards," is  his  sage  reflection  :  and  on  he  goes,  fol- 


58  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

lowing  his  own  judgment  alone,  till,  at  the  end  of 
life,  he  and  his  judgment  have  made  a  pitiful  career. 
If  you  are  at  all  inclined  to  think  you  have  a  good 
portion  of  sense,  I  would  strongly  advise  you  not  to 
take  it  for  granted.  True,  you  may  have  at  hand 
several  instances  in  which  you  were  right.  But 
some  of  us  have  a  better  memory  for  the  cases  in 
which  we  are  rio-ht  than  for  those  in  which  we  are 
wrong.  Take  the  wisest  man  you  know  ;  and  when 
you  find  your  opinion  differing  from  his,  do  not  for- 
get the  fact.  Watch  how  that  matter  turns  out. 
If  you  find  that  you  are  generally  right  in  such  eases, 
then  begin  humbly  to  believe  that  God  has  given 
you  a  fair  understanding  as  one  of  the  talents  for 
which  you  must  account.  But  if  you  find  you  were 
wrong,  first  make  the  full  deduction  necessary  from 
your  self-confidence,  and  then  try  and  find  out  what 
beguiled  you,  that  you  may  take  a  j  lister  view  at  a 
future  time.  Again  :  when  great  events  occur  about 
which  you  are  much  excited,  either  in  the  family, 
the  business,  the  Church,  or  the  state,  remember  the 
side  you  took,  and  the  anticipations  you  formed  when 
the  matter  was  yet  undecided.  Then  when  the  issue 
is  known,  test  your  judgment  by  facts.  Be  honest : 
see  whether  you  are  right  three  times  out  of  four  ■ 
and  if  not,  be  very  humble;  but  if  so,  be  humble 
still,  yet  hopeful  that  when  you  have  deliberately 
judged  you  are  probably  not  far  wrong.  You  have 
often  met  with  people  who,  happen  what  will,  always 
say,  "  I  knew  that  would  be  it."  Happy  prophets 
they !   whose  foresight  is  always  paulo-post-future. 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  59 

If  you  have,  or  think  you  have,  a  strong  intuition, 
take  care !  Genuine  intuition  is  allied  to  foresight ; 
but  even  such  an  intuition  must  only  have  a  limited 
sway.  If  left  absolute,  it  overrides  all  the  faculties 
of  mind,  all  the  opportunities  of  life  ;  if  reduced  by 
check,  restraint,  and  counsel  to  a  limited  sway,  it 
may  reign  with  vast  advantage.  Mr.  Budgett's  in- 
tuition was  trained  by  caution  and  forecast  till  it  was 
fit  to  be  trusted. 

He  had  also,  in  the  highest  degree,  the  power  to 
concentrate  his  attention  on  one  point.  He  cared 
not  how  rapid  the  succession  of  his  engagements 
might  be.  He  would  go  through  as  many  as  you 
pleased ;  but  pass  to  a  new  one  he  would  not  while 
the  one  in  hand  was  incomplete.  No  sooner  was 
this  dismissed  than  out  came  his  quick  "  now  what 
is  the  next  thing  ?"  but  of  the  "  next  thing "  he 
never  thought  till  the  former  one  was  finished. 
This  rapid  discernment,  this  power  of  forecasting, 
this  fixity  of  attention  on  one  thing,  seem  to  con- 
stitute the  chief  intellectual  features  of  his  mercantile 
ability. 

That  ability  was  under  the  constant  impulse  of  an 
invincible  desire  to  act  and  to  succeed.  He  seemed 
born  under  a  decree  to  do.  Doing,  doing,  ever  do- 
ing, his  nature  seemed  to  abhor  an  idleness,  more 
than  the  "  Nature  "  of  the  old  philosophers  abhorred 
a  vacuum.  An  idle  moment  was  an  irksome  mo- 
ment ;  an  idle  hour  would  have  been  a  sort  of  pur- 
gatory. No  sooner  was  one  engagement  out  of 
hand  than  his  instinct  within  him  seemed  to  cry 


60  THE   SUCCESSFUL    MERCHANT. 

out,  "Now  what  is  the  next  thing?"  Even  in 
taking  a  ride,  he  must  he  learning  or  teaching  some- 
thing. In  his  letters,  he  sometimes  bitterly  com- 
plains, that  he  had  not  sufficiently  improved  his 
time  ;  and  among  such  of  his  memoranda  as  escaped 
destruction  at  his  own  hand,  one  note  tells  of  a  joy- 
less and  uncomfortable  Sabbath, — "  and  no  wonder, 
for  I  did  not  rise  till  half-past  five  o'clock." 

His,  with  an  emphasis  almost  tremendous,  was 
"  life  in  earnest."  One  of  his  letters  to  a  friend, 
written  when  he  was  twenty-one,  has  the  following 
remarks  on  the  way  to  learn  the  value  of  time  : — 

"You  think  that  if  you  were  obliged  to  labour 
from  morning  till  night  without  interruption,  this 
would  teach  you  the  value  of  time.  Is  not  this  a 
mistake?  Can  anything  so  effectually  teach  us  iis 
value  as  a  deep  conviction  that  it  is  not  our  own, 
but  an  important  talent  put  into  our  hands,  for 
which  we  must  give  a  strict  account  at  the  great, 
the  general  audit  of  all  our  accounts  with  our  Ma- 
ker ?  If  so,  of  how  little  importance  is  it  to  us  what 
may  be  the  nature  or  quantity  of  our  engagements, 
so  long  as  we  may  secure  at  the  last  the  blest 
plaudit  of  "  Well  done  /"  from  Him  whose  approba- 
tion alone  it  is  that  gives  real  value  to  everything 
in  earth  or  heaven." 

As  his  intuition  was  guarded  by  forecast,  so  was 
his  activity  by  caution  and  perseverance.  "  Never 
attempt,  or  accomplish ;"  was  one  of  his  constant 
maxims.  And  consequently  he  would  not  attempt 
anything  till  he  saw  that  it  might  be  achieved.     He 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTEK.  61 

would  not  wait  till  it  was  easy ;  enough  that  it  was 
not  impossible.  That  settled,  the  path  was  plain ; — 
to  work !  and  let  it  be  done.  Once  set  out  in  an 
undertaking,  notliing  roused  him  so  much  as  what 
ordinary  men  woidd  call  "impossibilities."  Only 
set  impossibilities  before  him,  and  his  heart  rose  up 
resistless  and  went  on.  Such  was  his  own  power 
that  he  believed  every  one  could  make  his  way  as 
lie  had  done.  Not  long  before  his  death,  he  heard 
some  one  saying  he  wished  for  more  money.  "  Do 
you  I  then  I  do  not,  I  have  quite  enough.  But  if  I 
did  wish  for  more,  I  should  get  it."  He  would  often 
say  that  place  him  in  what  position  you  might  he 
could  work  his  way  on ;  ay,  leave  him  without  a 
shilling,  still  he  could  rise.  His  faith  in  the  power 
of  perseverance  Avas  unbounded.  In  speaking  to 
some  of  the  poorest  young  men  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and  urging  them  to  self-improvement,  he  de- 
clared that  there  was  no  reason  why  they  might  not 
every  one  of  them  be  worth  ten  thousand  pounds. 
Sir  Fowell  Buxton  placed  his  confidence  in  "  ordinary 
powers  and  extraordinary  application.'''1  So  do  most 
men  who  accomplish  much,  either  for  themselves  or 
others.  The  man  who  has  genius  without  perse- 
verance may  run  the  career  of  a  rocket,  but  can 
never  be  a  star ;  he  that  has  perseverance  without 
genius  will  be  a  bright  and  steady  star,  but  can 
never  be  a  sun ;  he  that  has  genius  and  perse- 
verance will  be  the  sun  of  his  own  system. 

From  what  has  been  said  about  his  habit  of  pre- 
concerting a  negotiation  and  of  applying  only  to  one 


62  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

thing  at  a  time,  it  is  scarcely  needful  to  add,  that 
love  of  system  was  as  deeply  rooted  in  his  character 
as  activity  or  perseverance. 

Critics  sometimes  censure  writers  of  fiction  for 
allowing-  their  heroes  to  appear  in  aspects  incon- 
sistent one  with  the  other.  I  cannot  say  how  ficti- 
tious heroes  ought  to  he  modelled.  They,  perhaps, 
had  better  be  all  proportionate  and  statuesque.  But 
as  to  the  actual  men  and  women  we  meet  with  here 
in  this  world  of  families,  churches,  markets,  and 
amusements,  they  are  very  far  from  being  a  rigidly 
symmetrical  race.  Indeed,  they  are  a  different  race 
altogether, — a  wayward,  ill-proportioned,  unaccount- 
able race  constantly  making  us  say,  "  Well,  he  was 
the  last  man  in  the  world  I  should  have  expected 
to  do  that!" — a  race  framed  to  no  one  standard, 
responding  to  no  one  ideal,  conformable  to  no  one 
model ; — a  race  over  which  a  terrible  distortion  must 
have  come  since  it  sprang  forth  from  the  Creator's 
hand.  Let  the  critics  have  it  as  they  will,  nothing 
is  so  natural  in  a  man  as  contradictions.  A  pain- 
ful heart-sinking  sensitiveness  does  not  seem  to  lit 
at  all  well  on  the  rapid  intuition,  the  endless  ac- 
tivity, the  inflexible  perseverance,  the  strict  order, 
which  we  have  already  noted.  Yet,  there  it  was. 
You  remember  the  terror  inspired  by  the  hot-tem- 
pered gentleman  who  was  likely  to  become  his 
tutor.  That  was  "  the  very  first  recollection  of  im- 
portance," in  his  life.  Another  of  his  first  recollec- 
tions shows  how  nervously  excitable  he  was  in 
childhood : — "  I   remember   going  to    chapel    and 


THE   BASIS   OF  CHARACTER.  03 

hearing  Adam  Clarke  preach.  But  the  singing  so 
aftected  me,  I  burst  into  tears  ;  and  although  I  cried 
as  gently  as  possible,  I  could  not  refrain.  My  father 
took  me  up  and  carried  me  out,  talked  kindly  to 
me,  and  told  me  I  need  not  be  terrified.  But  it 
had  so  affected  me,  that  I  was  obliged  to  be  taken 
home."  He  also  said,  in  speaking  of  his  childhood, 
"  A  cross  word  appeared  worse  than  a  blow ;  and 
beneath  it  I  often  felt  crushed,  crushed."  His  ideas 
of  himself  were  singularly  low.  In  his  letters,  he 
speaks  to  his  familiar  friends  as  immeasurably  be- 
neath them.  Mentally  and  religiously,  he  seemed 
to  hold  himself  inferior  to  all.  With  this  sinking 
heart,  he  often  trembled  at  the  outset  of  an  enter- 
prise which  brought  him  into  the  presence  of 
others  ;  but  let  them  only  raise  serious  difficulties, 
above  all,  let  them  be  haughty  or  harsh,  and  then 
all  his  tremor  lied,  and  he  flushed  up  with  the 
determination  to  conquer. 

The  habit  of  deducing  a  general  lesson  from  a 
particular  occurrence  has  already  been  noticed,  but 
must  be  distinctly  borne  in  mind  as  one  of  the  notable 
springs  of  his  power.  From  the  pain  he  felt  at  the 
thought  of  a  fiery  dominie,  he  learned  a  lesson  on 
education ;  from  the  death  of  the  donkey,  one  on 
credit ;  from  the  failure  of  the  traveller  in  his  mother's 
shop,  one  on  the  necessity  of  adapting  yourself  to 
the  interest  of  others :  and  so  he  generalized  as  he 
went  along,  and  stored  up  the  result  for  service  at 
a  future  day.  That  result  came  forth  in  those 
maxims  by  which  he  regulated  his  business  course, 


6-i  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

and  which  he  would  ever  maintain  at  the  cost  of 
immediate  loss.  Some  men  glide  among  events 
like  sand  in  a  glass,  bearing  no  trace  of  what  they 
have  passed  through.  They  are  no  wiser  for  a 
hundred  lessons,  no  more  modest  for  a  hundred 
failures,  no  more  cautious  for  a  hundred  errors. 
Others  pass  through  events  like  waters  through  the 
soil,  carrying  with  them  a  tinge  of  all  they  traverse. 
On  some  life  is  lost :  death  alone  can  make  them 
wiser.  On  others  no  event  falls  fruitless ;  there  is 
for  them  an  improvement  and  an  instruction  in  all 
things.  To  the  unwise  the  past  is  an  exploded 
match,  that  has  flashed  and  missed,  and  is  useless. 
To  the  wise  the  past  is  a  steady  light,  shedding 
beams  on  the  path  of  the  future.  Young  man  !  if 
you  do  not  learn  from  the  things  that  befall  your- 
self, gray  hairs  will  be  no  glory  to  you. 

Any  one  would  say  that  he  who  combined  all 
these  qualities  would  be  a  remarkably  shrewd  man, 
quick  to  descry  an  advantage  and  resolute  to  presa 
it.  This  was  strikingly  the  case  with  Mr.  Budgett, 
and  formed  the  chief  deduction  from  the  benevo- 
lence of  his  character.  In  business  he  was  keen — 
deliberately,  consistently,  methodically  keen.  He 
would  buy  as  scarcely  any  other  man  could  buy: 
he  would  sell  as  scarcely  any  other  man  could  sell. 
He  was  an  athletes  on  the  arena  of  trade,  and  re- 
joiced to  bear  off  the  prize.  He  was  a  soldier  on 
the  battle-field  of  bargains,  and  conquered  he  would 
not  be.  His  power  over  the  minds  of  others  was 
immense,  his  insight  into  their  character  piercing, 


THE   BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  65 

his  address  in  managing-  his  own  case  masterly,  and, 
above  all,  his  purpose  so  inflexible  that  no  regard  to 
delicacy  or  to  appearances  would  for  a  moment  be- 
guile him  from  his  object.  He  would  accomplish  a 
first-rate  transaction,  be  the  difficulty  what  it  might. 
That  secured,  his  word  was  as  gold,  and  generosity 
was  welcome  to  make  any  demand  on  his  gains. 
But  in  the  act  of  dealing  he  would  be  the  aptest 
tradesman  in  the  trade.  To  those  who  only  met 
him  in  the  market  this  feature  of  his  character  gave 
an  unfavourable  impression.  They  frequently  found 
themselves  pressed  and  conquered,  and  naturally 
felt  sore.  To  those  who  knew  all  the  excellence 
and  liberality  Avhich  lay  beneath  this  hard  mercan- 
tile exterior,  it  appeared  the  peculiarity  and  the  de- 
fect of  an  uncommonly  worthy  man,  yet  still  a  de- 
fect and  a  peculiarity. 

Mr.  Budgett  justified,  to  his  own  mind,  this  habit 
of  keen  trading.  His  natural  inclination  led  him  to 
it.  His  natural  ambition  was  for  commercial  con- 
quest. Such  being  the  case,  it  was  not  difficult  to 
find  maxims  which  appeared  to  consecrate  keen 
dealing.  These  maxims  were  such  as  these: — In 
whatever  calling  a  Christian  is  found  he  ought  to 
be  the  best  in  his  calling ;  if  only  a  shoeblack,  he 
ought  to  be  the  best  shoeblack  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. Again  :  It  is  your  duty  to  buy  in  the  cheap- 
est market  and  sell  in  the  dearest.  Again  :  The  sel- 
ler must  not  pretend  to  judge  of  the  buyer's  busi- 
ness, nor  the  buyer  of  the  seller's  business.      Each 

man  knows  his  own  concerns.     The  buyer  will  not 

5 


66  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

give  more  for  goods  than  they  are  worth  to  him, 
and  the  seller  will  not  take  less  for  goods  than  is 
equal  to  their  value  to  him. 

Against  the  first  of  these  maxims  there  can  be  no 
possible  objection,  provided  its  application  is  duly 
guarded.  To  aim  at  excellence  is  an  unquestionable 
duty.  He  that  can  see  others  excel  him  in  his  own 
line  without  endeavouring  to  improve,  is  inert  and 
ignoble.  But  from  what  motive  must  he  aim  at 
excellence  ?  Is  it  for  his  personal  advantage  that 
he  may  strive  and  gather  ?  or  is  it  from  a  sense  of 
duty  to  God,  that  he  may  fulfil  his  calling  in  the 
sphere  wherever  Providence  has  placed  him ;  and 
from  a  sense  of  duty  to  his  neighbour,  that  he  may, 
to  the  utmost  of  his  ability,  perform  his  part  in  the 
common  service  of  man  ?  The  gospel  leaves  no 
doubt  on  this  question.  To  improve  our  talent  that 
we  may  gratefully  and  faithfully  fulfil  the  trust 
which  the  great  Master  has  committed  to  us, 
that  we  may  effectually  perform  our  part  in  the 
labour  and  toil  of  our  struggling  human  family, — 
this  is  the  spirit  of  Christ.  To  improve  our  talent 
that  we  may  outrun,  eclipse,  and  conquer  others, 
that  we  may  enrich  and  exalt  ourselves, — this  is  the 
spirit  of  the  world.  Diligence  may  be  animated 
by  either  of  these  opposite  spirits.  Right  and 
wrong  may  walk  in  the  same  track  and  be  cov- 
ered with  the  same  mantle.  You  are  endeavour- 
ing to  excel ;  but,  as  you  think,  not  from  any  am 
bitious  motive.  The  test  of  that  lies  here  :  How 
do  you  use  your  proficiency?      Do  you  habitually 


THE   BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  07 

use  it  so  as  to  magnify  God's  great  law  of  loving 
your  neighbour  as  yourself?  Or  do  you  habitually 
use  it  so  as  to  convince  your  neighbour  that  if  you 
can  advantage  yourself  you  disregard  him  ?  To 
acquire  proficiency  in  your  calling  is  your  bounden 
duty  to  God  and  man.  But  that  proficiency  ac- 
quired, you  must  use  it  only  in  such  a  way  as  Mill 
honour  God's  authority,  and  as  will  respect  your 
neighbour's  rio-hts.  If  a  merchant,  it  is  doubtless 
your  duty  to  be  the  best  merchant  possible.  But 
is  he  the  best  merchant  who,  having  superior  tact, 
relentlessly  uses  that  superior  tact,  in  every  trans- 
action, to  thwart  and  outdo  others,  regardless 
whether  or  not  he  shall  appear  to  them  inconsider- 
ate and  unkind  ?  He  may  be  the  ablest  merchant ; 
but  that  is  all.  The  best  shoeblack  does  not  mean 
the  shoeblack  who  manages  to  worry  people  out  of 
the  greatest  amount  of  money,  but  the  shoeblack 
who  does  his  work  in  the  best  possible  way  and 
then  only  seeks  a  just  and  reasonable  reward.  The 
best  cabman  is  not  the  man  who  drives  in  the  best 
style  and  then  teases  you  till  you  overpay  him,  but 
the  man  who  drives  in  the  very  best  style  and  is 
content  with  his  just  wages.  So  the  best  merchant 
is  not  the  man  who  best  understands  his  business 
and  contrives  to  bargain  others  out  of  their  reason- 
able profits,  but  he  who  best  understands  his  busi- 
ness and  never  takes  advantage  of  any  man's  igno- 
rance, of  any  man's  necessity,  —  Avho  never  for- 
srets  that  the  interests  of  others  are  as  sacred  as  his 
own.     The   best  merchant  is   he  whose   business 


08  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

talent  is  of  the  highest  order  and  improved  to  the 
highest  pitch,  but  never  used  so  as  to  dishonour 
God  or  wrong  man. 

"  But  who  ever  thinks  about  God  in  business  ? 
I  think  about  God  at  church ;  but  in  business  one 
lias  something  else  to  think  about.'  Men  in  a  market 
are  not  likely  to  think  about  God."  Perhaps  not ; 
but  men  in  a  market  have  great  need  to  think 
about  God.  No  bargain  is  ever  made  in  which  God 
is  not  concerned.  He  is  the  eternal  and  the  uni- 
versal guardian  of  justice.  You  never  can  exclude 
him  from  any  matter  in  which  the  rights  of  his 
offspring  are  involved.  Against  all  who  would 
wrong  you,  he  takes  your  part.  Against  you,  he 
takes  the  part  of  all  you  would  wrong.  Over  all 
the  rights  of  his  creatures  his  own  hand  is  ever- 
more spread  as  a  buckler.  No  man  can  wound 
your  rights  without  smiting  that  hand.  You  can 
wound  no  man's  rights  without  smiting  it.  See 
that  you  smite  it  not,  for  that  great  right  hand  of 
justice  holds  a  tremendous  sword. 

The  maxim,  "  It  is  my  duty  to  buy  in  the 
cheapest  market,  and  to  sell  in  the  dearest ;"  has  a 
manifest  basis  of  truth.  It  would  be  wiong  for  a 
merchant  to  go  and  buy  tea  at  eighteen-pence  per 
pound  when  he  knew  another  market  where  he 
could  get  the  same  tea  for  fourteen.  It  would  be 
wrong  for  him  to  neglect  a  market  where  the  price 
was  eighteen,  and  to  sell  in  one  where  it  was  four- 
teen.  In  either  of  these  cases,  he  would  display 
a  negligence  which,  if  habitual,  must  end  in  ruin. 


THE   BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  69 

But  it  is  one  thing  to  go  to  the  cheapest  market, 
and  another  thing,  when  there,  to  set  your  heart  on 
buying  so  cheaply  that  you  will  wrench  from  the 
anxious  seller  every  hope  of  an  honest  profit. 

"But  the  buyer  must  not  pretend  to  be  judge  of 
the  seller's  business.  He  knows  at  what  price  it  will 
answer  his  purpose  to  sell;  the  buyer  knows  at 
what  price  it  will  answer  his  purpose  to  buy.  Ever) 
man  can  take  care  of  his  own  interests."  This 
seems  fair;  and  when  two  men  meet  on  equal 
ground,  it  is  fair.  The  manufacturer  ouo-ht  to  be 
the  best  judge  how  many  shillings  a  bale  of  cotton 
is  worth  to  him.  The  cotton  merchant  ought  to 
be  the  best  judge  how  many  shillings  are  worth  his 
bale  of  cotton  to  him.  The  buyer  may  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  seller  will  not  take  any  sum  but 
one  which  is,  just  then,  of  more  value  to  him  than 
the  goods.  The  seller  may  take  it  for  granted  that 
the  buyer  will  not  give  any  sum  but  one  which  is, 
just  then,  of  less  value  to  him  than  the  goods.  The 
argument,  then,  seems  complete:  "I  may  buy  as 
cheap  as  I  can,  and  sell  as  dear  as  I  can  ;  for  every 
<me  with  whom  I  deal  is  the  best  judge  of  his  own 
interests."  It  is  not  always  that  a  piece  of  reason- 
ing leads  one  to  a  conclusion  so  comfortable.  But 
it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  many  an  honour- 
able man  should  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  reason- 
ing which  seems  so  fair,  when  the  conclusion  is  so 
inviting. 

Admit  two  things ;  that  the  parties  are  equally 
solvent,  that  the  parties  are  equally  shrewd :   and 


10  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

then,  as  a  mere  piece  of  dry  mechanism,  your  prin- 
ciple may  stand  tolerably  upright.  But  two  men 
do  not  meet  as  two  machines ;  they  are  two  bro- 
thers. Each  one  is  bound  to  look  not  only  "  on  his 
own  things,  but  also  on  the  things  of  another." 
You  cannot  divest  yourself  of  this  duty.  God  has 
ordained  it,  and  while  God  is  love  the  law  is  un- 
alterable. In  your  neighbour  you  are  bound  to  see 
a  brother  whose  feelings,  whose  reputation,  whose 
property,  whose  family,  are  all  as  sacred  as  your 
own.  "  Let  no  man  seek  his  own,  but  every  man 
another's  wealth,"  is  a  precept  weightier  than  all 
the  dicta  of  the  exchange.  It  is  highly  convenient 
to  evade  this  precept  by  assuring  yourself  that  every 
man  will  look  to  his  own  interests,  and  that  there- 
fore you  may  just  gripe  all  that  others  will  let  you 
gripe.  But,  in  doing  so,  you  let  yourself  down 
from  the  level  of  a  Christian  to  the  level  of  a 
scrambler.  Even  amongst  men  who  meet  on  equal 
terms,  commerce,  on  your  principle,  is  not  a  system 
of  mutual  services,  but  a  system  of  mutual  supplant- 
ing. But  among  men  who  meet  upon  unequal 
terms,  that  principle  will  bear  you  out  in  cruel  op- 
pression. A  clothmaker  offers  to  a  cloth  merchant 
a  parcel  of  cloth.  His  manner,  or  something  else, 
tells  the  merchant  that  he  is  under  the  necessity  of 
finding  money.  He  asks  a  fair  price.  According 
to  the  best  judgment  of  the  merchant,  that  price 
would  afford  the  maker  a  fair  remuneration  and 
would  afford  himself  a  fair  profit.  But  he  knows, 
or  he  guesses,  that  money  happens  to  be,  at  that 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  1l 

moment,  of  exorbitant  value  to  his  neighbour.  On 
this  conviction  he.  refuses  the  fair  price,  and  offers 
one  that  would  double  his  own  profit,  but  would 
leave  the  other  without  any  profit,  or  with  a  loss. 
The  other  hesitates,  reasons,  entreats,  but  at  last 
reluctantly  yields.  The  merchant  exults  in  a  good 
bargain.  A  good  bargain ;  is  that  what  you  call 
it?  Why,  the  thing  you  have  done  is  neither 
more  nor  less  than  taking  advantage  of  your  neigh- 
bour's necessity  to  deprive  him  of  the  just  reward 
of  his  labour  and  to  put  it  in  your  own  pocket. 
"  But  I  am  not  bound  to  look  after  another  man's 
interests."  Yes,  you  are.  God  has  bound  you  to 
it.  He  has  bound  all  other  men  to  do  the  same 
to  you.  "But,  if  my  money  were  not  of  more 
value  than  his  goods,  why  did  he  accept  it  ?  I  did 
not  force  him."  Yes,  you  did  ;  as  far  as  in  you  lay. 
You  saw  you  had  him  in  a  position  where  he  must 
either  submit  to  the  loss  you  impose  upon  him  or 
risk  a  heavier.  You  took  advantage  of  him.  You 
believed  that  the  whole  profits,  fairly  divided,  would 
leave  him  a  share  and  you  a  share.  You  saw  a 
chance  of  getting  his  share  for  yourself  and  you 
seized  it.  It  was  not  fair.  It  was  not  brotherly. 
It  was  not  after  the  will  of  God.  All  the  mercan- 
tile maxims  in  the  world  will  not  consecrate  it. 
You  have  deprived  the  labourer  of  his  hire.  You 
have  denied  your  brother  his  equal  rights.  Had 
you  done  your  duty,  two  hearts  would  have  been 
the  better.  By  foregoing  this  opportunity  of  ex- 
cessive gain,  your  own  heart  would  have  gathered 


12  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

fresh  strength  to  do  justly  and  to  love  mercy ;  by 
seeing  your  consideration,  your  neighbour's  heart 
would  have  gained  fresh  esteem  for  his  fellow-men 
and  fresh  courage  for  his  struggle.  But  now,  two 
hearts  are  worse.  Yours  is  contracting  around  its 
ill-gotten  profits ;  his  is  soured  and  distrustful. 
"  Hearts,"  you  say,  "  what  have  I  to  do  with  hearts  \ 
Hearts  are  neither  pounds,  shillings,  nor  pence." 
Very  true ;  they  are  not :  and  if  all  your  argu- 
ments lie  within  those  three  columns,  I  have  no 
chance  of  convincing  you.  But  you  will  soon  be  in 
a  world  where  there  are  neither  pounds,  shillings, 
nor  pence. 

As  a  regular  matter  of  business,  it  can  never  be 
your  duty  to  purchase  or  to  sell  on  terms  which 
will  not  yield  you  "a  living  profit."  This  would 
be  to  prepare  ruin  for  yourself  and  loss  for  others. 
It  is  certainly  incumbent  upon  you  to  use  all  your 
tact  and  foresight  to  make  each  transaction  pay. 
True,  a  case  may  arise  wherein  you  would  essen- 
tially serve  a  neighbour  by  making  a  purchase  or  a 
sale  on  terms  that  would  be  of  no  advantage  to 
yourself.  In  such  a  case,  you  might  save  a  man 
from  all  the  social  calamities  and  tlie  moral  dangers 
of  bankruptcy,  and  thus  perform  a  higher  benevo- 
lence than  by  a  mere  gift.  It  may,  therefore.  Lap- 
pen  that  cases  will  arise  wherein  it  is  right  to  fore- 
go any  advantage  to  yourself,  in  order  to  save,  or 
even  to  serve,  another.  But  it  never  can  happen 
that  a  case  should  arise  where  you  may  wrong 
another  to  serve  vourself.     This  you  certainly  <1<>, 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  IS 

whenever,  to  the  best  of  your  judgment,  you  deprive 
another  of  his  profits  to  double  your  own.  Such  a 
transaction  can  never  be  justified  by  any  force  of 
circumstances,  any  traditional  sanction  of  "the 
trade,"  or  any  galaxy  of  examples.  "  Live,  and  let 
live,"  is  a  good  old  maxim  ;  with  far  more  pith  and 
sap  in  it  than  your  dry  hollow  sophistry  about 
"  My  money  being  of  more  value  to  him  than  his 
goods."  To  be  sure  it  is,  just  then.  But  if  that 
principle  had  justice  in  it,  God  would  never  have 
laid  a  curse  upon  usury. 

A  man  engaged  in  business,  who  makes  a  pro- 
fession of  piety,  is  bound  not  only  to  maintain 
substantial  integrity,  but  also  to  regard  the  impres- 
sion his  conduct  will  make  upon  men  of  the  world. 
This  is  demanded  of  him  by  the  honour  of  religion. 
He  ought  to  aim  at  two  things :  first,  at  showing 
that  his  piety  does  not  render  him  careless  or  in- 
competent ;  secondly,  at  showing  that  it  does  ren- 
der him  just  and  brotherly.  The  one  and  the  other 
of  these  is  absolutely  necessary ;  the  first  as  much 
as  the  second.  Satan  is  perpetually  preaching  to 
men  that  if  they  are  to  succeed  they  must  be  on  his 
side.  Multitudes  believe  him.  Multitudes  aban- 
don all  hope  of  at  the  same  time  serving  God  and 
making  their  way.  They  take  it  for  granted  that 
one  of  two  alternatives  must  be  chosen  :  an  abortive 
career  in  this  life,  or  a  neglect  of  the  life  to  come. 
Perhaps  not  without  a  pang,  they  choose  the  latter. 
Every  servant  of  God,  then,  who  stands  upon  that 
crowded  field  of  commerce,  and  holds  his  ground, 


74  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

and  goes  forward  and  earns  a  good  success,  main- 
taining his  steadfastness  the  while,  and  duly  re- 
membering things  eternal,  is  a  living  discomfiture 
of  Satan's  boast  that  men  must  serve  him  or  go  to 
wreck.  Every  such  man  is  a  proclamation  to  thou- 
sands that  they  may  renounce  the  devil,  renounce 
his  works,  renounce  all  unrighteousness,  renounce 
the  evil  ways  of  the  world,  and  yet  succeed.  But 
if  you  do  renounce  him,  remember  that  his  interest 
and  his  art  will  be  to  make  you  "  slothful  in  busi- 
ness," that  he  may  point  you  out  as  another  proof 
that  piety  and  success  do  not  dwell  together. 

But  while  you  outdo  the  worldling  in  tact,  in 
diligence,  and  in  knowledge  of  your  business,  re- 
member that  you  are  charged  with  the  solemn  re- 
sponsibility of  adorning  the  gospel.  Let  integrity 
and  nobleness  stamp  your  character.  For  the  sake 
of  Christ,  cherish  these  and  manifest  them.  Do  not 
give  men  the  impression  that  you  gripe,  and  snatch, 
and  peel.  Show  them  that  they  cannot  overreach 
you ;  show  them  that  you  would  not  oven-each 
them.  Do  not  keep  all  your  generosity  for  private 
life.  Let  not  severe  dealings  be  atoned  for  by 
liberal  gifts.  Do  endeavour  to  render  every  man 
foil  justice ;  not  only  by  paying  him  all  you  pro- 
mise to  pay,  but  also  by  offering  him  what,  in  your 
conscience,  you  believe  allows  him  a  fair  remunera- 
tion and  to  you  a  fair  chance.  Strictly  paying  all 
you  promise  to  pay,  may  arise  from  selfishness, 
from  a  pure  regard  to  your  own  credit  and  standing, 
irrespective  of  one  generous  feeling  as  to  the  inter- 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  75 

ests  of  those  with  whom  you  have  to  deal.  Often 
you  cannot  help  having  a  judgment  as  to  whether 
or  not  a  transaction  will  pay  your  neighbour. 
Whenever  a  case  arises  where  you  have  a  chance, 
to  the  best  of  your  belief,  of  adding  to  your  own 
profits  by  robbing  another  of  his,  surely  then  the 
Christian  course  is  both  plain  and  imperative.  You 
are  bound  to  see  that  your  transactions  are  safe ; 
for  in  that  your  character,  your  usefulness,  and  the 
interests  of  all  with  whom  you  have  to  do  are  in- 
volved. You  are  bound  to  secure  a  fair  profit ;  for 
it  is  God's  law  that  labour  shall  have  its  reward, 
and  that  you  should  provide  for  your  own.  But 
you  are  not  bound  to  make  a  fortune ;  you  are 
not  bound  to  gain  money  fast ;  and  no  intention 
as  to  the  after  use  of  money  can  justify  you  in 
urging  your  profits  to  a  point  which  robs  another 
of  his  just  reward. 

Commerce  is  a  system  of  mutual  services.  The 
very  structure  of  it  protests  against  making  self  your 
centre.  He  receives  the  greatest  reward  who  most 
successfully  adapts  his  services  to  the  general  need. 
Herein,  commerce  bears  the  imprint  of  God's  great 
law  of  brotherhood.  Every  man  who  enters  into 
trade,  proclaims,  voluntarily  or  involuntarily,  that  he 
was  not  sent  into  this  world  to  wait  upon  himself, 
but  to  find  his  own  welfare  in  working  for  his  neigh- 
bour. A  man  does  not  learn  to  make  shoes  be- 
cause he  means  to  display  new  shoes  every  day,  but 
because  he  knows  all  people  want  shoes.  A  man 
does  not  learn  to  make  hats  because  he  has  a  fancy 


76  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

to  mount  a  new  hat  every  week,  but  because  he 
knows  all  the  world  want  hats.  A  man  does  not 
learn  to  spin  cotton  because  he  means  to  heap  up 
mountains  of  yarn,  but  because  he  knows  yarn  is  a 
general  necessary.  A  man  does  not  study  law  be- 
cause he  means  to  be  perpetually  in  litigation,  but 
because  he  is  aware  that  some  one  is  always  in  need 
of  advice.  A  man  does  not  learn  to  cure  colic  be- 
cause he  expects  to  be  always  in  pain,  but  because 
he  knows  some  one  is  always  in  need  of  cure.  Thus, 
you  go  on;  and  you  ever  find  that  it  is  the  general 
service  which  calls  for  and  determines  the  individual 
proficiency.  Thus  God  places  on  the  very  portal  of 
life  a  plain  declaration  that  Ave  are  all  brethren  ;  that 
none  of  us  is  here  for  his  own  pleasure ;  that  the 
true  path  for  any  man  to  follow,  is  that  whereto  the 
necessities  of  his  fellow-men  most  loudly  call  him  ; 
that  in  pursuing  the  general  service,  we  reap  our 
highest  good ;  that,  in  neglecting  the  general  service, 
and  regarding  only  our  personal  tastes,  we  sink  into 
worthlessness  and  want;  that,  therefore,  the  man 
Avho,  while  ostensibly  employed  for  the  public,  is 
only  bent  on  his  own  promotion,  is  false  to  God's 
design,  false  to  the  brotherhood  of  man,  false  to  his 
own  calling  and  dignity — a  poor  and  pitiful  earth- 
worm, seeking  his  God,  his  heritage,  his  reward,  his 
heaven,  in  this  vanishing  Avorld  alone. 

"But,  I  must  look  after  myself;  that  is  my  first 
duty."  Are  you  sure  of  that  ?  Suppose  that  it  is 
so.  You  are,  say,  a  grocer.  Then,  taking  it  for 
granted  that  your  first  duty  is  to  look  after  yourself, 


THE  BASIS   OF  CHARACTER.  77 

of  course  you  will  resolve  to  be  the  richest  grocer  in 
the  town ;  and  as  to  the  public,  the  public  is  not  a 
living  thing,  a  number  of  your  own  brothers  and 
sisters, — it  is  only  the  rude  mass  of  ore  from  which 
you  will  extract  the  gold.  You  will  strain  every 
nerve  to  please  the  public,  but  not  care  a  whit 
whether  you  advantage  it  or  not  so  that  you  only 
net  a  rich  profit  every  week.  You  do  not  study 
of  how  much  use  you  can  be  to  the  public,  but  of 
how  much  use  you  can  make  the  public  to  you. 
Then,  your  place  is  filled  up,  your  work  is  done, 
society  is  a  gainer  by  your  diligence  and  enterprise  : 
but  who  has  to  thank  you  ?  Not  God  ;  you  did  it 
not  for  his  sake.  Not  man ;  you  did  it  not  for 
his  sake.  God  and  man  you  put  out  of  the 
question,  and  set  up  yourself  as  the  power  you 
would  serve.  Then,  what  shall  your  reward  be  ? 
Of  course,  what  you  strove  for, — pelf,  pelf,  pelf  alone. 
That  one  thing  you  desired ;  that  one  thing  you 
sought  after.  Take  it,  then,  take  it ;  eat  it,  drink 
it,  wear  it,  sit  upon  it,  ride  upon  it,  build  it  in  walls, 
display  it  in  apartments,  spread  it  out  in  lands,  count 
it,  lay  it  up,  write  it  in  large  books,  invest  it  in  sure 
banks,  engross  it  in  solemn  deeds,  record  it  in  legal 
testaments,  clutch,  carry,  and  cherish  it  right  up  to 
the  door  of  death ;  then  go  forth  and  learn  how 
poor  a  wretch  is  he,  who,  imagining  that  a  man's 
fife  consisteth  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  he 
possesseth,  lays  up  treasure  for  himself,  but  is  not 
rich  toward  God. 

But,  suppose  that  instead  of  taking  it  for  granted 


V8  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

that  your  first  duty  is  to  look  after  yourself,  you 
should  reason  something  after  this  manner : — "  Here 
I  am.  I  have  not  placed  myself  here.  A  little 
while  ago  and  I  was  not.  I  have  come  forth  from 
the  hollow  of  the  Creator's  hand.  He  has  not  sent 
me  here  to  sit  still ;  even  the  stones  are  useful  to 
mankind.  He  means  me  to  be  useful.  I  have 
something  to  do.  What  is  it,  and  how  should  it  be 
done  ?  All  circumstances  say  that  I  am  to  do  the 
work  of  a  grocer.  I  have  been  taught  this ;  I  can 
do  it  best.  In  this  work,  I  join  with  the  tea-tree  and 
the  coffee-tree,  with  the  sweet  cane,  with  the  rice 
fields,  with  the  wonderful  plants  that  yield  such 
pleasant  fruits,  such  delicious  spices,  with  the  sun 
that  warms  them,  with  the  clouds  that  water  them, 
with  the  ah  that  quickens  them,  with  the  earth  that 
bears  them,  with  the  labourers  of  harvest-field  and 
vintage,  with  the  mariners  that  carry  them  over  sea, 
with  the  winds  whereby  they  are  wafted,  and  the 
waves  whereby  they  are  borne.  All  this  is  but 
God's  chain  of  agencies  for  providing  these  good 
things  to  regale  and  to  nourish  men ;  and  into  that 
chain  of  agencies  I  fall,  the  last  link,  directly  con- 
veying the  creatures  of  God  into  the  hand  of  those 
for  whom  they  have  been  preparing  by  all  my  pre- 
cursors. Welcome,  then,  welcome  my  task !  Happy 
it  is  to  labour  where  all  nature  around,  set  in  motion 
direct  by  the  Almighty's  power,  is  constantly  forward- 
ing work  to  my  hand.  Did  he  that  placed  me  here 
mean  me  to  do  my  work  loosely,  negligently,  sloth- 
fully  ?     Surely  not ;  see  how  these  fruits  are  made, 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  19 

how  perfectly,  how  wholesomely,  how  pleasantly ! 
All  He  has  done  by  his  own  hand  in  the  process  of 
provision  is  done  tvcll.  What  I  do  must  be  done 
well.  '  Be  not  slothful  in  business,'  comes  home  to 
my  ear  from  the  double  voices  of  revelation,  and  of 
its  echo,  nature.  I  must  not  be  slothful ;  God  has 
sent  me  to  work,  man  needs  to  be  served.  Then  I 
am  here  to  do  all  that  I  can  do  to  promote  the  wel- 
fare of  mankind,  and  to  fulfil  the  appointment  of 
my  Maker." 

If  you  take  this  view,  then  you  have  every  motive 
to  diligence  and  to  proficiency  which  ought  to  be 
powerful  with  an  immortal  creature  of  the  great 
Father.  You  cease  to  be  a  mere  appetite, — craving, 
and  craving,  and  consuming,  and  going  on  to  crave. 
You  become  a  helper  to  the  happiness  of  the  uni- 
verse, a  co-worker  in  the  task  of  Providence,  an 
agent  of  the  benignant  Lord  above  us,  a  finisher  of 
the  work  of  suns  and  showers.  You  become  a  ser- 
vant of  God  and  a  servant  of  man  ;  presenting  your- 
self to  the  Father  of  all  as  a  labourer  in  the  great 
store  where  he  lays  up  a  provision  for  his  family. 
Surely  this  position  is  more  cheerful,  more  genial, 
more  noble,  more  worthy  to  elicit  all  the  energies 
of  a  rational  being,  than  the  grovelling  destiny  of 
just  feeding  your  own  desires. 

"Then,  I  am  to  look  after  the  interests  of  other 
people,  and  leave  my  own  to  look  after  themselves  ?" 
If  by  this  you  mean  that  you  are  to  neglect  your 
duties,  then,  with  all  the  authority  of  God's  com- 
mand, we  answer,  No !     If  you  mean  that,  perform- 


80  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

ing  all  your  duties  faithfully,  you  are  to  trust  Provi- 
dence with  your  interests,  then  we  answer,  Yes ! 
Self  cries,  Mind  your  interests.  Wisdom  cries,  Mind 
your  duties.  And  believe  that  in  fulfilling  your  du- 
ties you  are  really  taking  the  best  and  surest  way 
to  true  prosperity,  which  depends  alone  on  the  smile 
of  God.  Duty  binds  you  to  provide  for  your  own. 
Duty  binds  you  to  make  your  transactions  pay ;  for 
otherwise  you  do  not  fulfil  your  calling,  but  fail  in  it. 
Duty  sanctions  you  in  taking  a  fit  reward  for  labour, 
for  that  is  God's  universal  law.  Duty  supplies  you 
with  every  motive  for  being  a  first-rate  man  of  busi- 
ness. And  the  question  is  not  whether  you  will  be 
negligent  or  diligent,  expert  or  useless ;  but,  whether 
you  will  work  as  a  mere  self-seeking  animal,  neither 
caring  to  please  God  nor  to  profit  man,  or  work  as  a 
Christian,  as  a  child  of  God,  taking  an  impulse  from 
the  Divine  Father  to  lay  out  your  abilities  in  pro- 
moting the  universal  weal. 

"  Ah !  but  I  don't  understand  that.  It  is  too 
transcendental  for  me.  I  do  understand  minding 
my  own  interests.  That  is  a  motive  one  feels.  If 
I  tried  to  live  by  the  other  motive,  it  would  be  only 
sham.  I  must  be  content  to  say,  '  My  business  is 
to  do  what  I  can  for  myself.' "  Yes,  that  is  true. 
You  must  be  content  to  say  it ;  or,  whether  you  say 
it  or  not,  you  must  be  content  to  live  by  it,  so  long 
as  you  have  within  you  that  heart  which  dictates 
such  speeches.  What  do  you  know  about  being  a 
child  of  God,  and  feeling  like  a  child  of  God,  and 
looking  upon  gains  and  duties  with  the  eye  of  a 


THE  BASIS   OF  CHARACTER.  81 

child  of  God,  and  trusting  your  own  interests  to  the 
heavenly  Father  with  the  faith  of  a  child  of  God? 
You  !  Why,  you  live  to  buy  and  sell,  and  get  gain. 
You  desire  nothing  better.  You  dream  of  nothing 
nobler. 

"The  multiplication  table  is  your  creed, 
Your  paternoster,  and  your  decalogue." 

You  do  not  cheat  or  steal ;  you  know  better.  That 
would  be  the  way  to  lose,  not  gain.  It  would  not 
serve  in  the  long  run.  That  is  your  chief  objec- 
tion to  it.  It  would  be  short-sighted  selfishness. 
Then,  yours  is  also  short-sighted  selfishness ;  it  will 
not  answer  in  the  long  run.  It  may  serve  your 
turn  to-day ;  but  look  before  you.  You  are  not  a 
machine  constructed  to  catch  money;  you  were 
made  for  something  else.  You  have  another  life 
to  live, — a  life  where  wealth  is  not  reckoned  in 
coins,  but  in  the  commendation  of  God.  You  will 
not  hold  up  your  commercial  countenance  in  that 
day,  with  a  shiny  leer  upon  it,  and  say  you  leave 
such  deep  points  to  others,  but  as  for  you,  you  go 
ahead.  I  tell  you,  you  are  not  a  money-making 
machine.  You  are  a  man,  God's  offspring,  our 
brother.  God's  claims  are  upon  you ;  man's  claims 
are  upon  you;  immortality  is  within  you;  judg- 
ment is  before  you ;  and  every  aspiration  you  waste 
upon  self,  is  a  step  towards  eternal  poverty. 

"  But  I  do  not  understand  these  high  views  of 
business  life.  I  only  understand  business  to  be, 
doing  the  best  I  can  for  myself."  Of  course  you 
do  not  understand  them.     That  is  just  what  I  said. 

G 


82  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

And  you  will  never  understand  them  while  you 
keep  that  same  heart  unchanged.     If  you  profess 
to  understand  them  with  that  heart,  it  will  be  a 
miserable  mistake,  or  a  more  miserable  hypocrisy. 
No,  no !  to  understand  God's  ways,  you  must  be 
God's  child.     To  see  the  divine  side  of  things,  you 
must  be  born  from  above,  born  again,  made  another 
being;  must  pass  through  a  change  as  great  for 
vour  soul  as  the  change  is  to  an  infant  when  it  is 
ushered  forth  from  dark  existence  into  bright  and 
breathing?  life.     You  must  have  a  new  heart, — a 
heart  created  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  God's  image ; 
a  heart  that  loves  much,  because  much  has  been 
forgiven;  a  heart  that  burns  to  show  its  love;   a 
heart  that  feels  all  men  are  its  brothers ;  a  heart 
that,  like  God  and  like  his  Christ,  loves  mankind 
deeply,  and  swells  with  fulness  of  good-will.     With 
such  a  heart,  your  views  of  life,  of  business,  of  duty, 
would  undergo  a  right  memorable  change.     Now, 
if  you  would  rather  be  a  conscious  child  of  God 
than  a  pitiful  grub,  moiling  amid  pelf  without  one 
hope  beyond  it,  you  must  stop  where  you  are,  and 
call  upon  God,  and  ask  him  to  open  your  eyes,  and 
take  his  holy  word  and  search  out  the  way ;  and 
he  will  teach  you.     Your  heart  will  grow  soft,  you 
will  repent  of  the  past,  you  will  discover  an  escape 
through  the  merits  of  Christ,  you  will  find  in  him 
an   advocate,   you  will  obtain  mercy;    and,  here- 
after, you  will  prove  that  a  man  may  diligently  ply 
his   calling  with   the  smile  of  God,   the  love  of 
Christ,  the  law  of  charity,  the  hope  of  immortal 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  83 

joy,  all  present  to  illuminate  his  path  and  to  dig- 
nify his  toil. 

We  have  been  led  into  this  digression  by  the 
mention  of  Mr.  Budgett's  habitual  keenness  in 
trade.  As  we  have  said,  he  justified  to  his  own 
mind  his  habit  in  this  respect,  on  principles  which 
appeared  sound  and  fair.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that,  in  the  heat  of  a  negotiation,  he  never  went 
beyond  even  what  his  own  principles  would  sus- 
tain. It  is  probable  that,  yielding  to  his  natural 
bent  and  eagerness,  he  sometimes  did.  But  when- 
ever he  discovered  such  a  case,  his  self-condemna- 
tion was  bitter.  Whenever  such  a  case  was  pointed 
out  to  him,  his  confession  of  the  fault,  his  humbling 
of  himself,  were  prompt  and  most  instructive.  His 
habitual,  earnest  aim,  was  at  unimpeachable  in- 
tegrity. That  his  rigid  bargain-making  did  not 
arise  from  a  love  of  money,  from  selfish  ambition, 
from  indifference  to  the  interests  of  others,  his 
whole  life  amply  testifies.  It  arose  solely  from  his 
natural  passion  for  successful  trade.  It  was  in  him, 
what  the  passion  for  shooting  was  in  Buxton.  It 
assorted  ill  with  his  entire  being,  but  there  it  was. 
It  prevented  those  who  did  not  know  the  whole 
man  from  appreciating  his  extraordinary  worth. 
It  cost  him,  especially  in  his  earlier  career,  much 
ill-will.  It  was  the  defect  of  his  character ;  and  I 
set  it  out  broadly,  preferring  that  his  admirers 
should  think  I  have  said  too  much,  rather  than 
that  general  readers  should  suspect  I  was  making 
up  a  man.     It  is  for  general  readers  I  write ;  and 


84  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

they  are  far  move  likely  to  be  profited  by  the  study 
of  a  real  man  with  a  blemish,  than  of  one  all 
beautiful  whom  they  suspect  to  be  imaginary. 

One  would  hardly  have  anticipated,  as  features 
of  a  mind  so  essentially  commercial,  a  strong  love 
of  poetry  and  of  the  beautiful  in  nature.  But  no 
element  of  his  character  was  earlier  or  more  per- 
manently displayed  than  this.  You  will  remember 
that  the  first  indulgence  wherewith  he  gratified 
himself,  out  of  the  fruits  of  his  early  trading,  was  a 
copy  of  Wesley's  Hymns ;  and  that,  possessed  of 
it,  he  felt  himself  "  a  rich  and  happy  boy."  At  a 
yet  earlier  period,  his  passion  for  poetrv  had  been 
developed.  Before  the  family  removed  to  Cole- 
ford,  he  had  become  possessed  of  a  treasure  which 
has  awoke  in  the  bosom  of  millions  of  children  the 
first  sympathy  with  sacred  song,  and  which  doubt- 
less tended  to  form  the  taste  which  he  afterwards 
gratified  by  the  noble  lyrics  of  Chai-les  Wesley. 

"  About  this  time,  [shortly  after  they  removed,] 
my  father  unpacked  his  large  chest  of  books,  and 
every  search  was  made  for  my  much-loved  and 
only  canvase-covered  book,  Watts's  Children's 
Hymns ;  but,  alas !  all  in  vain.  And,  strange  as 
it  may  appear,  it  did  not  occur  to  my  mind,  fur  a 
year  or  two,  that  another  could  be  obtained.  My 
attachment  to  it  was  indescribable  ;  and  for  weeks 
and  months  I  would  frequently  be  inquiring  of  my 
father,  and  getting  him  to  search  his  chest  to  see 
if  it  could  not  be  found.  My  peace  seemed  to  de- 
pend upon  it." 


THE  BASIS   OF   CHARACTER.  85 

Andrew  Fletcher,  of  Saltoun,  tells  of  a  wise  man 
who  said,  that  "if  one  were  permitted  to  make  all 
the  ballads  of  a  nation,  he  did  not  care  who  made 
the  laws."  But  since  the  days  of  Watts  and  Wes- 
ley, the  ballad  has  lost  much  of  its  power.  What 
James  Montgomery  calls  the  "  invention "  of  the 
hymn,  has  been  fatal  to  the  ballad.  In  the  family, 
the  congregation,  the  Sunday  school,  and  the  infant 
school,  the  children  of  the  country  have  been  made 
acquainted  with  productions  familiar  as  the  ballad, 
and  far  loftier ;  so  that  the  latter  has  insensibly 
fallen  in  esteem.  In  many  districts  of  the  country 
the  children  of  the  poor  are  now  far  more  versed  in 
hymns  than  in  ballads.  The  moral,  religious,  and 
political  effect  of  the  substitution  is  of  the  most 
valuable  kind.  Would  that  the  change  were  only 
complete,  instead  of  being  partial ! 

The  relish  for  poetry  which  was  first  developed 
by  the  twin  genius  of  Watts  and  Wesley,  never 
abated.  In  after  life,  his  special  favourites  were 
Young  and  Cowper.  I  have  before  me  his  own 
copy  of  these  authors,  and  well  are  they  pencilled 
over.  Thomson,  too,  was  one  of  his  choice  com- 
panions. But  his  range  of  authors  was  consider- 
able. He  delighted  to  store  his  mind  with  quota- 
tions ;  and  sometimes,  on  a  ramble,  would  challenge 
a  companion  to  name  any  subject  on  which  he 
could  not  produce  a  verse ;  a  challenge  he  almost 
always  made  good.  To  love  poetry,  and  to  love 
natural  beauty,  are  much  the  same  thing.  His 
love  for  spring  is  constantly  appearing  in  his  let- 


86  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

ters ;  and  some  of  them  also  testify  how  he  en- 
joyed a  tour  amid  the  lovelier  paths  of  our  own 
island.  Busy  as  he  was,  he  dearly  loved  a  summer 
ramble. 

It  may  well  be  supposed  that  he  was  not  a 
voluminous  letter  writer.  He  had  no  leisure  so  to 
be.  And  so  much  did  he  desire  higher  qualifica- 
tions than  he  had  ever  attained,  that  he  underrated 
what  he  possessed,  so  as  to  make  writing  a  con- 
siderable effort.  To  a  very  near  friend  he  says, 
"  The  want  of  improvement,  arising  from  the  want 
of  practice  in  writing,  occasions  so  many  defects  in 
my  every  effort  of  this  kind,  that  it  is  with  reluc- 
tance I  set  about  it."  From  such  a  man  we  are  not 
to  expect  the  letters  of  those  who  have  elegant  or 
learned  leisure;  but  few  men  of  his  own  order 
would  be  found  writing  to  a  young  friend,  then  an 
inmate  of  his  family,  so  copiously  and  so  descrip- 
tively as  in  the  following  example.  Though  we  do 
not  find  the  hand  practised  in  painting  nature,  we 
have  the  eye  to  see  and  to  prize  her  charms : — 

"  Neath,  September  14, 1840. 

"  My  Bear  Miss  B , — I  take  this,  the  first 

convenient  opportunity,  to  thank  you  for  your 
hasty  but  welcome  note.  It  always  gives  us  plea- 
sure to  hear  from  those  we  love,  especially  those 
of  our  own  household.  We  wrote  to  sister  Eliza- 
beth from  Pontypool,  in  which  we  endeavoured  t<  > 
give  something  like  a  description  of  our  procedure. 
We  left  Pontypool  on  Thursday  the  10th  instant, 


THE  liASIS  OF  CHARACTER  87 

about  half-past  six  o'clock, — a  beautiful  morning, — 
and  had  one  of  the  most  charming  drives  for  six 
miles  through  a  deep  and  beautiful  valley,  between 
high  hills  richly  wooded  with  various  shrubs  and 
trees  on  either  side,  and  a  continuation  of  lakes  at 
the  foot.  Sometimes  we  had  these  ponds  on  the 
left  hand ;  and  then,  crossing,  we  had  them  on  our 
right.  The  sun  shining  most  magnificently  through 
and  on  the  whole,  produced  an  effect  not  easily 
described.  All  was  still  and  calm,  save  now  and 
then  a  foot  passenger  or  a  little  girl  from  a  neigh- 
bouring cottage  picking  blackberries,  and  the  sweet 
warbling  of  the  birds,  which  seemed  to  be  vying 
with  each  other  which  should  raise  the  highest 
notes  of  praise  to  their  Creator  in  this  beautiful 
valley.  We  drove  slowly,  admiring  and  adoring 
the  wisdom,  skill,  and  goodness  of  Him  who  gives 
us  all  things  richly  to  enjoy,  until  we  came  to 
a  little  whitewashed  house,  called  'New  Bridge 
Inn.' 

"  By  this  time  we  were,  as  you  will  suppose,  quite 
ready  for  a  good  breakfast,  which  was  very  quickly 
provided, — nice  coffee  and  cream,  new-laid  eggs, 
and  choice  rashers,  &c.  My  wife,  whom  I  think  I 
had  never  seen  so  charmed  with  the  beauties  of 
nature  before,  left  the  feasting  her  eyes  and  her 
intellect  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  a  more  earthly 
appetite;  and  I  assure  you  we  both  did  justice  to 
the  breakfast.  I  suppose  my  wife  had  never  so 
enjoyed  a  morning  in  her  life.  She  thinks  the 
scenery  quite  equal  to  the  lakes  of  Westmoreland. 


88  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MEECHANT. 

After  paying  our  bill,  we  proceeded  about  twelve 
miles  farther,  to  Tredegar, — quite  a  different  road, 
but  not  without  interest.  We  stopped  there  to 
feed  our  horse,  and  called  at  the  bank,  &c. ;  and 
then  proceeded  through  a  very  thickly  populated 
place,  called  Dowlais,  to  Merthyr, — as  much  the 
reverse  of  the  morning's  scenery  as  it  is  possible  to 
imagine.  In  the  morning,  soon  after  five,  we  arose 
and  commenced  a  journey  of  twelve  miles  to  an- 
other New-Bridge,  in  Glamorgan.  On  this  ride 
Ave  had  hills  on  both  sides,  beautifully  wooded,  but 
more  open  and  more  inhabited  than  the  other,  and 
the  river  Taff  all  the  way  on  our  right  hand. 
This  ride  extended  for  twenty-four  miles  through 
the  vale  of  Taff  to  Cardiff;  but  at  New-Bridge  we 
stopped  to  feed  our  horse,  nor  did  we  forget  our- 
selves. We  took  our  little  basket,  and  walked 
about  ten  minutes  to  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
waterfalls  you  can  possibly  imagine.  There  is  first 
a  semicircle,  say  not  less  than  sixty  yards,  and 
then  a  straight  fall  of  perhaps  a  hundred.  The 
water  of  the  Taff  river  here  fells  a  distance  of  many 
yards,  and  produces  considerable  noise  and  foam. 
When  we  were  there,  the  sun  shone  most  beauti- 
fully, and  my  wife  was  again  charmed, — not  in  a 
common  way,  but  well-nigh  transported  out  of 
herself.  She  was,  however,  at  length  prevailed 
on  to  sit  on  a  clean  white  stone,  and  spread 
the  bounties  of  Providence  on  another  stone  or 
rock,  just  opposite  the  fall,  and  under  a  large  oak- 
tree,  which  seemed  placed  there  just  to  shelter  us 


THE   BASIS   OF   CHARACTER.  89 

from  the  powerful  rays  of  the  sun  which  just  then 
shone  with  great  strength.  S.  B." 

A  temper  naturally  tending  to  haste  but  never 
retaining  displeasure,  a  heart  singularly  open,  telling 
out  to  friends  almost  every  thought  with  a  freedom 
that  scarcely  any  friend  could  return  and  beyond 
what  more  reserved  natures  could  approve,  and  a 
warm  genial  affection,  open  to  every  claim  but  espe- 
cially ardent  in  all  family  attachments,  with  a  lively 
delight  in  giving  pleasure,  were  the  chief  moral 
qualities  that  lay  naturally  at  the  basis  of  his  cha- 
racter. 

Next  to  the  qualities  with  which  a  man  is  born, 
the  influences  which  his  parents  and  his  family  exert 
are  powerful  in  shaping  his  after  course.  Mothers  ! 
your  task  in  training  your  sons  is  often  heavy,  but 
your  encouragements  are  great.  How  many  of  the 
good  and  the  successful,  of  the  wise  and  the  happy, 
trace  all  that  was  bright  in  their  character  to  influ- 
ences lying  as  far  back  as  their  mother's  knee ! 
Samuel  Budgett  was  born  a  merchant ;  but  whether 
he  would  be  happy  and  useful,  or  a  pest,  in  propor- 
tion to  his  talents,  depended  wholly  on  the  moral 
qualities  with  which  his  commercial  powers  were 
combined.  Happily  for  him,  truth  and  grace  were 
valued  in  the  home  of  his  childhood.  If  his  parents 
had  not  been  remarkably  successful  in  gaining  this 
world's  good,  they  had  secured  the  pearl  that  was  of 
far  greater  price  to  both  them  and  their  children. 
He  was  early  taught  to  worship,  and  obey,  and  seek 


90  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

the  God  from  whose  hand  his  young  being  had 
come.  What  Lamartine  so  beautifully  says  of  his 
own  mother,  might  be  said  equally  of  his  : — "  We 
could  not  remember  the  day  when  she  first  spoke  to 
us  about  God."  An  extract  has  already  been  given, 
showing  that  one  of  his  earliest  recollections  was 
connected  with  attendance  on  the  preaching  of  the 
celebrated  Adam  Clarke.  He  says  also, — "  We  were 
in  the  habit  of  attending  the  Wesleyan  Chapel,  and 
the  preachers  were  frequently  entertained  at  our 
house."  The  following  little  incident  shows  the 
moral  tone  which  was  maintained  in  this  Christian 
home : — 

"  While  at  Nailsea,  the  following  circumstance 
occurred.  Passing  one  clay  to  school  with  my  sis- 
ters, a  neighbour's  children  were  gathering  in  wal- 
nuts, and  accosting  us,  presented  us  with  a  hatful. 
On  our  return  home,  we  ran  in  with  childish  glee  to 
exhibit  our  treasure;  but  we  were  sternly  repri- 
manded by  our  father,  who  said  it  was  dishonest, 
and  that  he  would  send  for  the  owner,  return  the 
walnuts,  and  deliver  us  to  him  to  do  with  us  what 
he  pleased.  This  made  my  poor  little  heart  beat 
violently;  and  I  could  only  think  of  living  the  tmt 
of  my  life  in  jail,  until  the  neighbour's  kindness 
allayed  all  my  fearful  apprehensions." 

His  mother  especially  was  eminently  pious,  and 
her  influence  on  the  character  of  her  son  was  power- 
ful and  happy.  His  faithful  friend,  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Wood,  who  intimately  knew  his  inner  life,  thus  states 
one  of  those  events  which  pass  silently  within  the 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  91 

bosom  of  Christian  families,  but  which  reappear,  in 
the  life  of  their  members,  in  blessed  and  memorable 
fruit : — 

"  He  was  about  nine  yeare  of  age,  when  one  day, 
in  passing  his  mother's  door,  he  heard  her  engaged 
in  earnest  prayer  for  her  family,  and  for  himself  by 
name.  He  thought,  '  My  mother  is  more  earnest 
that  I  should  be  saved  than  I  am  for  my  own  salva- 
tion.' In  that  hour  he  became  decided  to  serve 
God,  and  the  impression  then  made  was  never 
effaced." 

Happy  that  son,  whose  heart  is  daily  moved  to- 
wards the  ways  of  God  by  a  mother's  holy  walk, 
and  whose  salvation  is  the  daily  burden  of  a  mo- 
ther's fervent  prayer !  And  happy  that  mother, 
whose  son  does  not  steel  his  heart  against  her  soli- 
citude !  "  It  was  early,"  many  a  mother  would 
perhaps  think,  "  to  be  concerned  about  the  conver- 
sion of  a  good,  well-conducted  boy, — when  he  was 
only  nine."  Perhaps,  had  you  been  much  concerned 
for  the  conversion  of  your  boy  when  he  was  good 
and  well-conducted,  he  might  have  been  good  and 
well-conducted  still.  "  It  is  early,"  many  a  son  will 
probably  think,  "  to  be  anxious  about  a  future  life, 
when  I  am  yet  so  young."  Perhaps,  if  you  defer 
now  because  it  is  too  early,  you  will  in  a  few  years 
abandon  the  thouo-ht  altoo-ether  because  it  is  too 
laic 

His  relio-ious  feelings  thus  began  at  the  door  of 

o  o  o 

his  mother's  chamber.  They  were  soon  strength- 
ened by  her  recitals  of  the  scenes  that  passed  in  the 


92  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

chamber  of  a  dying  neighbour.  After  they  had  re- 
moved to  Coleford,  he  says : — 

"  The  first  thing  I  remember  here  was  the  death 
of  a  poor  woman,  named  Betty  Coles,  who  died  very 
happy  in  a  small  house  just  by  the  chapel.  During 
her  illness,  my  mother  frequently  visited  her;  and 
such  was  the  effect  of  my  mother's  description,  from 
time  to  time,  of  her  happy  experience  and  death, 
that  I  felt  an  ardent  desire  to  lie  down  and  die  by 
her  side.  And  I  shall  never  forget  the  solemn  de- 
light I  felt,  on  the  calm  summer  evenings,  walking 
in  a  field  near  the  house,  called  Ashol,  repeating  the 
hymn,  '  Ah !  lovely  appearance  of  death !'  until  my 
mind  became  so  enraptured  that  death,  of  all  things, 
appeared  the  most  desirable." 

Doubtless,  this  good  mother  acquired  far  more 
moral  power  over  the  heart  of  her  son,  by  the  interest 
he  saw  her  take  in  the  dying  woman,  than  she  could 
have  done  by  the  most  systematic  teaching  alone. 
And  doubtless,  too,  she  drew  his  young  heart  to- 
wards the  future  with  far  greater  effect  by  telling 
him  all  that  was  passing  in  the  happy  soul  of  Betty 
Coles,  than  she  could  have  done  by  any  amount  of 
dissertation  on  death  and  eternity.  Living  things 
teach  the  best  lessons.  It  is  singular  that  when  men 
are  descending  the  graveward  slope  of  life's  hill,  they 
are  not  near  so  alive  to  the  closing  scene  as  when 
they  were  on  the  sunny  side,  amid  the  morning 
beams  and  the  morning  flowers,  pressing  up  to  enjoy 
the  summit.  Death  generally  recedes  from  the 
thoughts  as  it  comes  nearer  to  the  frame.     Take 


THE   BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  93 

care  that  you  do  not  count  upon  being  more  alive 
to  your  latter  end  as  it  approaches.  Young  hearts 
are  the  most  difficult  to  impress  with  earthly  fore- 
cast, but  the  easiest  to  impress  with  care  for  eternity. 
By  the  statement  just  quoted,  we  see  that  young  as 
Samuel  was,  his  heart  already  warmed  towards  the 
joys  that  lie  beyond  the  forbidding  bourn  of  death. 
The  faith  with  which  his  mother  spoke  of  the  better 
country,  the  peace  wherewith  Betty  Coles  ap- 
proached its  unseen  shore,  the  rapt  music  in  which 
Charles  Wesley  dwells  on  the  Christian's  release,  all 
combined,  as  instruments  in  the  holy  Hand  that  was, 
even  now,  linking  his  life  with  immortality,  to  divest 
the  grave  of  its  fear  by  unfolding  the  bliss  to  which 
it  admits  the  believer.  It  was  hardly  to  be  thought, 
that  the  little  merchant,  whom  we  saw  in  the  last 
chapter  buying  and  selling  and  getting  gain  with 
such  precocious  shrewdness,  would  be  found,  "  on 
the  calm  summer  evening,  walking  in  the  fields  with 
solemn  delight,"  and  repeating  these  enchanting 
lines : — 

How  blest  is  our  brother,  bereft 
Of  all  that  could  burden  his  mind ! 

How  easy  the  soul  that  has  left 
This  wearisome  body  behind ! 

Of  evil  incapable,  thou, 
Whose  relics  with  envy  I  see  ; 

No  longer  in  misery  now, 
No  longer  a  sinner  like  me. 

The  lids  he  so  seldom  could  close, 

By  sorrow  forbidden  to  sleep, 
Now  seal'd  in  their  mortal  repose, 

Have  strangely  forgotten  to  weep  ; 


94  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

The  fountains  can  yield  no  supplies; 

These  hollows  from  water  are  free  ; 
The  tears  are  all  wiped  from  these  eyes, 

And  evil  they  never  shall  see. 

This  feeling,  in  which  poetry  and  religion  mingle, 
seems  to  have  been  familiar  to  him  in  those  early 
days  ;  for  he  speaks  of  being  much  affected  by  "  the 
fall  of  the  leaf,  when  his  sisters  would  walk  up  and 
down  and  repeat  verses  taught  them  by  their  mo- 
ther." Around  the  memory  of  that  mother  all  his 
early  recollections  of  a  sacred  kind  appear  to  centre. 
It  is  always  a  dreary  day  at  home,  when  a  mo- 
ther's chamber  is  darkened,  when  the  children  may 
not  enter,  and  those  that  go  in  and  out  tread  lightly 
and  speak  in  under-tone.  After  such  an  anxious 
day,  this  boy,  whose  mother  was  so  worthy  to  be 
loved,  went  to  rest  full  of  the  dread  that  she  was 
near  her  end.  It  was  a  dark  winter's  night;  and 
most  of  us  can  imagine  the  feelings  of  such  a  child. 

"  On  the  following  morning,"  he  says,  "  between 
three  and  four  o'clock,  my  mother  was  so  much 
worse  that  she  was  supposed  to  be  almost,  if  not 
quite,  dying.  The  physician  had  been  previously 
sent  for,  and  he  pronounced  her  to  be  in  so  preca- 
rious a  state,  that  her  friends  thought  that  would  be 
the  last  morning  of  her  life.  My  father,  in  great 
distress,  sent  hastily  for  me,  while  he  saddled  old 
Bob,  and  catching  up  one  of  his  own  gaiters  and 
putting  one  on  each  of  my  legs,  sent  me  off  in  the 
dark  (for  it  was  winter)  to  Mells,  a  distance  of  three 
miles — a  most  solitary  ride — for  Mr.  Aliens,  the  sur- 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  95 

geon,  to  come  immediately.  On  my  way  back,  I 
shall  never  forget  the  impression  made  on  my  mind, 
(when  a  little  bird  commenced  singing  a  cheerful 
note,  as  I  rode  by  Mells  Park,)  that,  in  answer  to 
my  prayers,  God  would  restore  my  mother.  My 
heart  was  rilled  with  gratitude,  and  from  that  time 
I  never  doubted  her  recovery ;  and  I  went  home 
exclaiming,  '  Sister  Betsey,  mother  will  get  wrell !' 
'  What  makes  you  think  so  V  '  0  !  I  know  it,  be- 
cause God  has  heard  our  prayers,  and  will  answer 
them ;  and  I  have  not  had  a  doubt  of  it  since  I 
came  by  Mells  Park  this  morning.'  " 

He  had  gone  to  sleep  full  of  the  thought  that  his 
good  mother  was  in  danger.  In  the  dark  of  the 
whiter  morning  he  is  awoke:  even  then  he  must 
hasten  away  for  the  last  available  aid.  How  that 
little  heart  must  have  swelled  and  beat,  as  he  set 
forth  on  his  dark  and  solitary  ride !  And  now  the 
errand  is  done.  He  is  on  his  way  home.  What 
news  awaits  him  there?  All  his  thoughts  rise  up 
to  Him  who  alone  can  help  in  such  dark  and  cloudy 
days.  His  mother's  God  is  above  him  ;  his  mother's 
God  is  tender ;  he  hears  prayer ;  and  he  can  infalli- 
bly restore.  He  is  passing  by  the  park  at  Mells, 
and  praying  as  he  goes.  The  silence,  that  has  aided 
his  sorrow  and  his  abstraction,  is  broken.  A  little 
bird  lifts  up  its  voice  and  sings.  Sweet  and  welcome 
note !  That  music  in  the  creation  seems  to  testify 
of  mercy  in  the  Creator.  His  struggling  prayer 
gains  confidence.  He  trusts  in  the  tender  mercy  of 
the  Lord.     Joy  fills  his  young  heart : — -ay,  joy,  on 


96  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

that  colli,  weary,  -winter  morning,  with  his  mother 
at  the  point  of  death.  It  is  no  natural  flush,  no 
passing  glow,  but  a  strange  and  sacred  joy  that  car- 
ries a  message  in  it.  The  Comforter  has  come. 
God  has  heard  his  prayer :  he  is  sure  it  is  so.  He 
is  happy  as  to  his  mother's  lot,  and  happy  as  to  his 
own  sold.  He  returns  proclaiming  his  confidence. 
The  issue  establishes  his  faith. 

That  was  a  memorable  morning  to  him.  Through- 
out life,  he  always  thought  that  then,  for  the  first 
time,  he  tasted  the  joy  of  acceptance  with  God. 
After  his  mother's  recovery,  one  day,  in  walking 
with  her,  he  told  her  of  his  morning  prayer  by 
Mells  Park,  of  the  persuasion  that  she  would  re- 
cover and  the  sense  of  peace  with  God  which  then 
were  given  to  him.  She  returned  home  full  of  a 
mother's  hope,  and  said  to  some  of  the  family,  "  My 
dear  Samuel  will,  if  spared,  be  made  a  great  bless- 
ing. In  conversing  with  him,  I  have  been  pro- 
fited and  humbled.  Although  young  in  years,  he 
is  a  companion  for  age  as  well  as  youth." 

"  Slender  ground,"  many  mothers  would  say, 
"  to  found  hopes  of  future  character  upon, — anything 
that  passes  in  the  mind  of  a  child  of  nine  or  ten  !" 
So  you  think  in  the  mind  of  whose  children  no 
such  things  are  likely  to  pass.  You,  whose  little 
ones  never  overheard  you  pleading  in  your  chamber 
that  the  God  of  love  would  lead  their  hearts  to 
him  ;  never  saw  you  frequenting  the  death-bed  of 
poor  neighbours ;  never  stood  by  your  knee  to  hear 
how  one  whose  person  they  knew  was  going  down 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  97 

to  the  grave,  and  rejoicing  to  go.  Why,  it  is  natu- 
ral that  you  should  think  lightly  of  fruits  which 
you  take  no  pains  to  cultivate.  But,  however  you 
may  judge  of  religious  feelings  in  the  mind  of  so 
young  a  child,  Samuel  Budgett,  when  quite  as  ex- 
perienced in  the  world  as  you — as  shrewd,  as  clear- 
sighted, and  as  practical — looked  hack  on  his  morn- 
ing ride  by  the  park  at  Mells,  as  a  luminous  point, 
which  shed  forward  a  stream  of  brightness  on  all 
his  onward  way. 

"But  how  gloomy  for  a  boy  thus  to  have  his 
thoughts  rilled  with  things  eternal  and  infinite !" 
Gloomy  !  you  say ;  ah !  then,  your  own  boyhood 
knew  no  such  experience,  or  you  would  have  cried, 
"  It  is  not  gloomy,  but  surpassingly  glorious." 
Suppose  that  Mr.  Paxton  had  a  son  at  school,  would 
it  be  gloomy  for  him  to  be  taken  from  his  tops  and 
marbles  and  introduced  to  the  radiant  microcosm 
where  his  father's  genius  gathers  under  its  shining 
wings  the  assembled  offspring  of  all  the  nations  ? 
As  that  scene  opened  on  his  eye,  would  not  tops 
and  marbles  be  all  forgotten,  and  the  joys  of  his 
young  heart  gush  again  to  think,  "  And  this  was 
built  by  my  father?"  And  they  who  think  piety 
in  youth  is  like  sackcloth  covering  health  and  bloom, 
little  know  how  gloriously  the  soul  of  a  boy  ex- 
pands and  soars,  when  he  feels  himself  free  of  two 
worlds, — possessor  of  the  present,  heir  of  the  eternal. 
When  the  eye  of  faith,  newly  opened  within  him, 
gazes  on  that  better  country,  with  its  objects  show- 
ing indistinctly  amid  depths  of  light,  he  feels  him- 

7 


98  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

self  launched  upon  a  new  life,  as  far  exceeding  his 
former  life  in  joy  and  grandeur,  as,  to  a  warm- 
hearted son  of  the  architect,  the  crystal  palace  would 
exceed  his  playground  at  school.  Youth  is  the  time 
for  joy :  but  the  joy  of  youth  is  only  a  pent-up, 
though  pregnant,  bud,  till  it  has  felt  the  beams  of 
wonder  and  gladness  which  flow  from  the  world- 
saving  work  of  Christ,  and  from  the  Father's  adopt- 
ing love.  Then,  only  then,  it  bursts  into  full  and 
glowing  flower.  Ye  that  have  let  youth  pass  and 
do  not  yet  know  the  Saviour,  you  have  slept  too 
long.  The  sunrise  is  past ;  you  will  never  see  that 
glorious  sight  now.  But  the  day  is  not  over  yet. 
The  sun  is  not  set.  You  cannot  recall  the  morn, 
nor  look  upon  the  early  light  amid  morning  flowers 
and  dew  and  music  of  birds  ;  but  the  sun  is  still  in 
the  heaven ;  up,  and  behold  him,  before  he  goes 
down.     "  The  night  cometh." 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  with  such  a  parentage 
as  his,  with  such  religious  emotions,  and  with  a 
heart  naturally  warm,  Samuel  would  have  family 
affections  uncommonly  ardent.  In  him,  these  af- 
fections acted  on  a  practical  and  energetic  nature. 
He  was  the  eldest  son  of  his  mother.  His  father, 
much  older  than  she,  was  well  stricken  in  years. 
His  brothers  and  sisters  were  numerous,  and  would 
require  some  one  to  open  their  way  in  life.  He 
often  saw  his  excellent  parents  struggling  with 
severe  care  and  difficulty.  When  Warren  Hastings 
was  seven  years  of  age,  as  he  lay,  one  bright  day 
in  June,  on  the  banks  of  the  rivulet  that  ran  through 


THE   BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  99 

the  domains  which  his  ancestors  had  owned,  he  re- 
solved on  recovering  that  lost  inheritance ;  and  he, 
poor  and  unlikely  boy,  "  he  would  be  Hastings  of 
1  >:i ylesford." — Macaulay.  When  the  first  Sir  Rob- 
ert Peel  was  but  a  little  boy,  he  confidently  told 
that  he  would  yet  be  rich,  and  great,  and  power- 
ful ;  for  in  a  country  like  ours  diligence  and  talent 
might  reach  any  position.  (Gentleman's  Magazine, 
1830.)  Both  these  boys  were  poor;  but  both  had 
talent  and  perseverance,  and  both  reaped  in  the  fall 
of  life  the  harvest  they  had  hoped  for  in  its  spring. 
Samuel  Budgett,  in  circumstances  about  as  humble 
and  at  an  age  equally  tender,  formed  his  own  more 
modest  scheme.  He  had  no  ancestral  domain  to 
win  back.  He  thought  not  of  personal  power  or 
station.  But  he  had  beloved  parents,  of  whom  he 
would  fain  be  the  stay ;  and  brothers  and  sisters,  of 
whom  he  would  fain  be  the  pioneer.  His  resolution 
was  taken :  he  Avould  provide  for  his  family.  He 
Avas  not  a  boy  to  dream :  he  must  work.  He  was 
not  to  make  his  fortune,  as  so  many  boys  are,  by 
some  rich  chance  in  the  fair,  fertile  future ;  but  he 
must  make  half-pence,  pence,  and  perchance  a  shil- 
ling, even  now,  in  the  dull  and  sterile  present.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  betook  him  to  such  little  merchan- 
dise as  the  neighbourhood  offered  and  as  his  funds 
could  command;  fowls,  eggs,  and  whatever  else 
could  be  turned  to  profit.  Doubtless,  in  all  this 
traffic  he  was  indulging  a  natural  passion ;  but  the 
pursuit  was  ennobled  to  his  own  mind  because  it 
was  to  be  the  pathway  of  his  family  to  comfort. 


100  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

Full  of  this  hope,  he  bought  and  sold,  and  attended 
the  neighbouring  markets  of  Shepton  Mallet  and 
Bath  ;  at  every  successful  bargain  gaining  fresh  con- 
fidence that  he  would  yet  achieve  the  desire  of  his 
heart.  How  far  that  desire  may  have  sprung  from 
pure  affection,  how  far  it  may  have  been  animated 
by  family  ambition,  we  can  hardly  trace.  Both 
principles  had  probably  a  share  in  its  origin  and  its 
intensity.  That  he  had  strongly  the  natural  desire 
to  rise,  is  unquestionable.  That  he  had  strongly,  also, 
the  sacred  resolve  to  employ  his  gains,  not  in  hoard- 
ing up  wealth  for  himself,  but  in  promoting  the 
happiness,  first  of  his  family,  then  of  his  neighbours, 
is  equally  unquestionable.  Without  his  family  in- 
citements, he  had  enough  of  natural  ambition  to 
urge  him  upwards  ;  but  with  this  natural  ambition, 
the  grace  of  God  led  him  to  decide  that  instead  of 
slipping  the  chain  which  bound  him  to  the  family 
burden  in  order  to  rise  unencumbered,  he  would 
bind  that  burden  on  his  own  shoulders,  and,  seek- 
ing God's  help,  press  on.  On,  then,  he  pressed ; 
and  in  proportion  to  his  burden,  so  was  his  blessing. 
I  do  hope  that  some  honest  lad  who  has  set  his  own 
hand  to  the  holy  work  of  lessening  the  cares  of 
parental  age  and  smoothing  the  path  of  fraternal 
youth,  will  light  upon  these  pages,  and  will  take 
courage  from  the  remembrance  of  how  Samuel 
Budgett  began,  and  how  he  went  on  and  pros- 
pered. 

One  of  his  remarkable  faculties  was  the  clear  dis- 
cernment of  the  relation  which  the  little  bears  to  the 


THE   BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  101 

great; — moments  to  years,  drachms  to  tons,  pence 
to  thousands.  We  have  seen  how  he  multiplied  five 
minutes,  till  a  loss  of  years  seemed  to  spring  up  as 
its  inevitahle  fruit.  So,  in  the  waste  or  the  over- 
weight of  a  drachm,  he  would  clearly  point  out  to 
a  man  consequences  so  alarming  that  his  hair  would 
almost  stand  up ;  and  in  the  neglect  of  odd  pence 
upon  an  account,  he  would  show  you  the  spring  of 
incalculable  losses.  In  any  sphere  of  life — in  studies, 
in  delicacies  of  family  relation,  in  guiding  churches, 
in  ruling  a  country,  quite  as  much  as  in  raising  a 
business, — it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  you 
clearly  see  the  connexion  between  the  little  and  the 
great.  Our  young  merchant  possessed  that  power 
almost  in  exaggeration,  and  therefore  clearly  traced 
a  connexion  between  every  little  gain  and  his  great 
ultimate  design. 

A  remarkable  illustration  of  his  discerning  the 
great  in  the  little  occurred  not  many  years  before 
his  death.  Walking  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Clevedon,  with  his  confidential  servant  Martha,  he 
found  a  potato  lying  on  the  road.  This  he  picked 
up,  and  giving  it  to  Martha,  told  her  to  plant  it  and 
keep  the  produce,  to  plant  that  again  next  year, 
and  so  to  go  on  year  by  year, — he  promising  to 
find  her  ground  for  her  crop  however  extensive  it 
might  be,  and  assuring  her  that  she  might  make  a 
little  fortune  in  the  course  of  time.  To  this  potato 
he  added  another,  found  also ;  and  the  first  year 
the  produce  was  sixteen,  the  second  sixty-three,  the 
third  a  sackful.     And  what  may  ultimately  spring 


102  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

from  that  potato,  I  must  leave  to  some  other  his- 
torian. 

We  now  naturally  ask,  What  part  had  the 
school  in  forming  his  habits  and  character?  And 
it  is  really  well  that  we  happen  to  have  some  light 
on  this  point  in  his  own  words.  In  a  few  years 
more  we  shall  hardly  be  willing  to  believe  that  the 
state  of  education  in  rural  districts  was,  so  recently, 
what  the  following  passages  will  show  it  to  have 
been.  During:  the  time  that  the  family  resided  at 
Kingswood,  he  says  : — 

"  At  this  time  we  went  to  school  to  a  Mrs.  Stone, 
at  the  Yew  Tree,  whose  usual  mode  of  punishment 
was  to  put  us  in  the  corner  with  her  husband's  long 
speckled  worsted  stocking  drawn  over  our  heads, 
cither  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  and  with  the 
foot  hanging  over  our  faces.  This  degradation  I 
had  twice  to  submit  to ;  once  for  picking  up  an 
apple  from  under  the  tree,  and  the  other  time  for 
washing  my  shoe  in  her  pan  of  clean  water." 

This  affords  no  light  on  the  teaching  practised 
by  good  Dame  Stone ;  all  we  see  is  her  method  of 
discipline,  and  the  glimpse  is  sufficiently  picturesque 
for  the  pencil  of  Webster.  But  upon  the  actual  in- 
structions given  by  a  successor  of  that  worthy  per- 
sonage, the  record  is  more  explicit. 

"  I  was  then  placed  at  school  with  an  old  woman 
who  spun  worsted,  and  the  only  good  I  ever  re- 
member receiving,  was  a  tremendous  belief  in,  and 
dread  of,  ghosts  and  hobgoblins.  In  order  to  keep 
the  children  quiet,  she  would  toll  us  the  most  ter- 


THE   BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  103 

rific  stories  of  apparitions,  as  she  walked  to  and  fro 
by  her  spinning-  wheel ;  such  as  the  following : — 
'A  man,  once  chopping  wood  at  a  place  called 
Goodheavers,  by  accident  chopped  his  bowels  out. 
The  hatchet  became  so  fixed  in  the  block  that  it 
could  never  afterwards  be  removed  ;  and  this  man's 
ghost  ever  afterwards  haunted  the  place,  and  fre- 
quently when  many  persons  were  present  would 
make  his  appearance,  put  his  finger  into  the  fire, 
and  light  his  pipe  with  it.  After  annoying  the 
people  for  some  time,  he  would  descend  into  the 
coalpit.  He  was  twice  laid,  but  still  made  his 
appearance  and  terrified  those  who  attended  the 
pit ;  when  a  number  of  good  men  met  together,  and 
laid  him  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  she  was  not  aware 
whether  he  had  since  made  his  appearance  or  not.' 
This  is  just  to  show  the  kind  of  tuition  in  that 
temple  of  literature." 

"  Temple  of  literature,"  indeed  !  And  the  priest- 
ess, too !  It  is  positively  a  marvel  that  this  giant 
English  people  have  ever  grown  to  the  proportions 
Avherein  they  stand  before  the  world  to-day,  con- 
sidering the  mental  aliment  on  which  the  bulk  of 
them  were  reared.  Poor  children  !  handed  over — 
by  way  of  education,  forsooth! — to  witness  an  old 
woman  spinning  two  yarns,  one  of  worsted,  the 
other  of  hobgoblins.  And  the  quality  of  her  ghosts, 
too !  They  had  not  even  the  small  profit  of  being 
poetical,  to  weigh  against  all  the  needless  fears  and 
pains  they  originated  in  the  heart  of  a  poor  child. 
What  an  astonishment  it  would  be  for  Mrs.  Stone 


104  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

and  her  yarn-loving  coadjutor,  could  they  see  the 
noble  room  that  stands  behind  Kingswood  chapel, 
fifty-one  feet  fong,  by  thirty-four  wide,  and  twenty- 
one  high,  with  tidy  forms,  rising  gallery,  and  garni- 
ture of  plates  and  maps ;  and  were  then  told  that 
this  was  a  school  for  poor  children  built  by  their 
own  old  pupil,  who  had  washed  his  shoes  in  the 
pan  of  water,  had  worn  on  his  naughty  head  Mister 
Stone's  speckled  stocking,  and  trembled  to  think  of 
the  fire-proof  ghost  who  lit  his  pipe  with  his  fingers ! 
Certes,  the  spinning-wheel  would  stand  still  for  very 
wonder.  And  how  would  the  wonder  grow,  when 
the  worthy  women  heard  the  manner  of  knowledge 
there  imparted ;  urchins  just  such  as  used  to  be  in 
their  own  days — no  older,  no  bigger,  no  less  given 
to  play,  no  more  addicted  to  mischief,  —  little 
urchins  of  five,  six,  seven,  and  other  ages  appropri- 
ate to  hornbook  or  to  pothooks,  holding  talk  about 
parts  of  speech,  mental  arithmetic,  and  the  vege- 
table kingdom,  and  planets  and  Plantagenets  ;  tell- 
ing, before  you  could  turn  round,  what  would  be 
the  cost  of  thirty-nine  pounds  of  butter  at  eleven- 
pence three-farthings  per  pound ;  and  placing  be- 
fore you  a  map  of  England  which  their  own  fingers 
had  drawn.  The  venerable  priestesses  in  the  an- 
cient "  temple  of  literature,"  would  greatly  wonder 
at  all  this ;  and  also  to  see  that  instead  of  the  salu- 
tary amusement  of  a  ghost-story,  the  teacher  should 
set  the  children  to  clap  hands,  and  march,  and  sing, 
and  now  and  then  turn  them  out  on  a  pleasant 
playground  on  purpose  to  have  sport. 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  105 

Have  you  ever  spent  a  morning  in  a  school  con- 
ducted on  Stow's  training  system  ?  If  not,  go  soon. 
It  will  be  to  you  a  pleasure  and  a  gain.  You  will 
wonder  at  the  amount  of  knowledge  that  can  be 
given  to  children.  You  will  be  thankful  to  see  the 
young  so  grounded  in  the  habit  of  weighing  and 
searching  the  letter  of  God's  lively  oracles.  You 
will  find  your  heart  lightened  to  see  how  much  of 
real  enjoyment  can  be  thrown  into  the  exercises  of  a 
school.  And,  contrasting  that  scene  with  those  of 
which  Mr.  Budgett  has  left  us  the  record,  you  will 
be  glad  and  grateful  for  the  progress  which  has  been 
made  since  the  days  of  his  childhood.  Would  that 
so  much  ignorance  did  not  still  remain  to  reproach 
the  supineness  of  the  Churches  ! 

Besides  the  schools  above  alluded  to,  we  find  him 
naming  another,  at  Kilmersdon,  on  the  way  from 
which  he  found  the  memorable  horseshoe.  He  also 
went  for  two  years  to  a  school  at  Midsomer  Norton, 
where  he  and  a  younger  brother  were  weekly 
boarders.  This  was  doubtless  of  a  higher  order 
than  either  of  the  other  three. 

Life  often  turns  on  the  result  of  some  boyish 
struggle.  Samuel's  early  piety  had  lighted  up  two 
kindred  ambitions.  He  would  fain  place  his  family 
in  competence ;  he  would  fain  bring  the  dark  hea- 
then to  Christ.  For  the  one  he  must  trade ;  for  the 
other,  he  must  go  far  hence  as  a  missionary,  for- 
saking trade  and  kindred.  How  rapidly  does  a 
future  race  of  gain,  of  glory,  or  of  usefulness  lie  pic- 
tured before  a  boy  of  active  mind,  in  colours  that  en- 


100  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

chant  for  the  time.  Each  course  to  which  Samuel's 
heart  pushed  him  had  its  own  charm.  Each 
charm  was  hallowed  by  a  distinct  sacredness.  Filial 
love  consecrated  the  one;  love  to  souls,  the  other. 
It  was  a  struggle  which  the  heart  of  many  a  young 
Christian  knows.  How  deeply  it  engaged  the  heart 
of  Samuel,  let  his  own  recital  tell. 

"  About  this  time,  I  was  in  a  great  strait  between 
two  courses  of  life;  as  to  whether  I  had  better 
direct  my  attention  to  obtaining  a  qualification  for 
going  out  as  a  missionary,  or  to  prepare  for  busi- 
ness. On  the  one  hand,  I  had  a  great  desire  to  be 
useful  in  a  spiritual  point  of  view ;  on  the  other,  I 
felt  sensibly  the  strong  claims  which  my  family  had 
on  my  efforts  in  a  pecuniary  way.  One  day,  as  I 
was  riding  along  on  my  fathers  horse,  so  deeply 
was  I  engaged  in  the  absorbing  question  that  I  fell 
into  a  reverie.  I  remember  imagining,  first,  what 
advantages  would  be  likely  to  accrue  to  the  family 
by  my  diligently  pursuing  business ;  and  again,  I 
imagined  myself  transported  to  some  clime  as  a 
missionary,  engaged  in  preaching  the  gospel  to  the 
heathen,  and  almost  fancied  myself  kneeling  under 
the  bushes  and  among  the  rocks,  drawing  down  by 
faith  and  prayer  blessings  on  my  family ;  and  so 
deeply  was  my  mind  absorbed  at  that  instant  that 
I  entirely  lost  sight  of  where  I  was  going,  nor  do  I 
know  how  long  I  continued  in  that  state.  All  I 
remember  is,  that  when  I  awoke  from  the  reverie  T 
found  the  bridle  loose  from  my  hand  on  the  horse's 
neck,  and  he  standing  under  a  large  tree  in  a  lane, 


THE   BASIS  OF  CHARACTER.  107 

eating  grass;  and  it  appeared  to  me  that  I  had 
been  for  a  considerable  time  surrounded  by  a  large 
concourse  of  people,  whom  I  had  been  entreating 
with  feelings  of  the  deepest  interest  to  flee  from  the 
wrath  to  come,  and  to  accept  of  present  salvMion 
through  faith  in  Christ.  One  thing  is  certain, — I 
had  been  weeping  a  great  deal,  as  the  point  of  the 
saddle  and  the  horse's  shoulders  were  wet  with  my 
tears ;  and  I  rode  home  with  feelings  of  conscious 
dignity  and  peace,  such  as  I  cannot  describe ;  and 
I  almost  thought  of  giving  up  all  idea  of  business, 
and  devoting  myself  to  a  preparation  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry.  But  from  a  fancied  consciousness 
of  my  want  of  capacity,  and  my  want  of  education 
or  means  of  obtaining  it,  I  felt  a  fear  of  mentioning 
my  impressions  to  any  person  who  might  have  as- 
sisted me.  I  thought  I  must  plod  on  as  I  could, 
and  get  my  bread  and  help  my  family." 

This  simple  narrative  shows  how  deeply  the  love 
of  souls  had  then  penetrated  his  young  heart.  It 
brought  him  to  a  point  at  which  nothing  was  want- 
ing but  a  fair  opportunity  to  make  him  sacrifice  at 
once  his  natural  pursuit  of  trade  and  his  cherished 
design  of  family  advancement.  Even  in  the  dis- 
tant scene  to  which  his  young  fancy  bore  him,  his 
heart  still  clung  to  its  home  project.  Even  there, 
he  pictures  himself  "  kneeling  down  under  the  rocks 
and  among  the  bushes,  drawing  doAvn  by  faith  and 
prayer  blessings  upon  my  family."  Yes,  and  had 
he  gone  thither  with  such  a  heart,  that  "  faith  and 
prayer"  exercised  on  behalf  of  his  family  would  not 


108  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

have  failed  to  "  draw  down "  from  the  endless 
store  above  all  blessings  which  they  needed.  Many 
a  missionary  has  committed  his  kindred  to  the  care 
of  God,  and  afterwards  proved  that  the  promise  to 
those  who  forsake  father  and  mother  and  houses 
and  lands,  for  Christ's  sake  and  the  gospel's,  is  a 
good  dowry  for  those  who  can  trust  it.  But  to 
Samuel  the  door  did  not  seem  open.  Had  it 
been,  probably  the  sacrifice  would  have  been  made  , 
it  was  in  his  heart,  and  doubtless  it  was  accepted. 

His  character,  then,  was  based  on  an  intellect  of 
uncommon  penetration,  foresight,  and  power  of  sys- 
tematizing ;  on  a  temperament  singularly  active  and 
persevering ;  on  affections  warm  to  domestic  claims, 
eager  to  communicate  happiness,  and  susceptible  of 
intense  emotion  ;  on  a  natural  love  of  trade,  amount- 
ing to  a  passion ;  on  a  home  where  worth  nurtured 
his  affections,  instruction  guided  him  toward  in- 
tegrity and  religion,  and  exigency  called  forth  his 
efforts ;  on  a  childhood  of  which  the  great  events 
were  scenes  of  domestic  anxiety  that  highly  excited 
his  feelings,  or  personal  dangers  that  shook  his  sys- 
tem ;  on  a  school-training  imperfect  and  unfavour- 
able ;  on  religious  impressions  early,  deep,  vivid, 
and  influential ;  finally,  on  a  conflict  between  two 
sacred  desires — the  one,  to  live  for  his  family,  the 
other,  to  live  for  souls, — a  conflict  in  which  not  so 
much  his  will  as  his  self-distrust  cast  the  die  and 
sent  him  forth  to  take  the  lot  of  an  apprentice. 

How  did  he  fare  on  this  stage  of  his  journey  ? 


EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.  109 


CHAPTER   IV. 
EARLY     TOILS     AND     TROUBLES. 

There's  not  a  man,  from  England's  king 
To  the  peasant  that  delves  the  soil, 

Can  share  half  the  pleasure  the  seasons  bring, 
If  he  have  not  his  share  of  the  toil. 

Bernard  Barton. 

It  was  on  a  day  in  spring  (in  April,  1809)  that 
Samuel  Budffett  set  forth  on  that  seven  years'  iour- 
ney  which  people  call  apprenticeship.  He  had 
already  served  an  apprenticeship  in  his  own  way : 
for  five  years  he  had  been  saving,  buying,  selling, 
observing,  and  laying  up  stores  of  commercial  wis- 
dom. Pie  had  shown  himself  a  tradesman  of  rare 
tact ;  and  had  he  just  gone  on  plying  his  own  means 
and  pushing  his  own  opportunities,  doubtless  he 
would  have  shot  up  into  some  irregular  eminence 
among  the  notabilities  of  the  neighbourhood.  It  is 
hard  to  conjecture  what  sort  of  a  business  his  would 
have  been  had  he  never  been  apprenticed ;  but  cer- 
tainly something  unique,  both  in  its  grouping  of 
wares  and  in  its  plan  of  management.  However,  it 
is  not  necessary  to  tell  what  he  would  have  been  if 
he  had  not  been  what  he  was.  So  many  have 
written  the  history  of  things  which  would  have  been 
had  not  other  things  come  instead  of  them, — for 
instance,  what  would  have  been  the  history  of  Eu- 


110  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

rope  had  Napoleon  died  in  Egypt  or  been  victor  at 
"Waterloo, — that  it  will  suffice  for  me  to  write  of  the 
plain  tilings  that  have  been.  True,  one  shows  no 
depth  or  foresight  in  telling  only  what  has  come  to 
pass ;  but  that  is  a  humiliation  to  which  we  may  as 
well  make  up  our  mind.  With  his  aptitude  for 
trade,  with  the  proof  already  attained  that  by  follow- 
ing his  own  way  he  coidd  prosper,  and  with  his  set- 
tled desire  to  acquire  a  competency,  (not  for  his  own 
sake,)  the  temptation  to  many  a  lad  would  have 
been  strong  to  turn  away  from  the  tedious  close- 
hedged  road  of  apprenticeship,  and  to  look  for  a 
shorter  and  a  freer  way  to  wealth.  But  his  haste 
was  the  haste  of  energy,  not  of  impatience.  He 
had  gone  to  work  just  because  he  could  not  be  idle  ; 
and  he  was  perfectly  content  to  forego  his  own  little 
dealings  in  order  to  learn  the  regular  habits  of  trade, 
which  would  prove  a  firmer  base  whereon  to  erect 
his  future  success.  He  started,  then,  rich  in  his 
parent's  blessing,  and  entered  on  his  new  career 
under  the  roof  of  his  brother. 

Trade  is  a  university  wherein  every  shop  is  a  col- 
lege, and  every  apprentice  a  graduate.  And  a  very 
momentous  matriculation  it  is,  when  a  boy  signs  the 
deed  which  "binds"  him  for  seven  years.  Three- 
score years  and  ten  seem  a  long  term  to  the  eye  of 
childhood,  though  they  seem  but  a  fragment  to  the 
eye  of  age.  Yet  of  that  long  term  two-tenths  are 
already  gone  before  the  boy  is  fit  to  be  bound,  and 
then  a  third  must  pass  away  before  he  emerges  into 
manhood  ; — three-tenths  of  life's  allotted  time  clean 


EARLY   TOILS  AND   TROUBLES.  Ill 

gone,  before  the  art  of  gaining  a  livelihood  has  Leon 
mastered !  Men  do  few  more  serious  things  in  all 
the  course  of  life  than  those  boys  do  at  life's  threshold. 
That  signing  the  indenture  is  the  beginning  of  life's 
earnest  work.  Up  to  that  day,  it  was  to  be  seen  in 
what  ship  the  future  man  would  sail,  and  what 
course  he  would  steer ;  now  his  ship  is  chosen,  his 
course  decided  ;  he  is  out  to  sea,  and  back  he  cannot 
put  without  loss  and*  shame.  Yet  that  solemn  mat- 
ter of  handing  himself  over  for  seven  long  years  to 
a  dwelling,  a  master,  and  a  calling  from  which  he 
may  not  stir,  sits  more  lightly  on  the  unbroken 
spirits  of  the  boy  than  a  trivial  movement  of  only 
three  days'  importance  on  the  man  whose  anxieties 
have  become  deeply  sensitive  by  the  friction  of  many 
years. 

I  once  witnessed  the  ceremony  of  signing  inden- 
tures, and  it  impressed  me  greatly, — more  than  the 
first  time  I  saw  the  signing  of  a  will.  It  was  a 
brave  boy ;  a  rough,  strong,  bold,  well-looking,  hardy 
boy.  His  father,  a  staunch  old  man,  was  by  his  side, 
deeply  serious, — his  air  strangely  compounded  of 
sternness  and  sensibility.  His  new  master,  too,  was 
there — a  bluff  and  not  beautiful  sailor,  with  a  lip,  a 
nose,  an  eye,  and  a  voice  which,  to  me,  would  not 
at  all  recommend  an  invitation  to  seven  years'  close 
company.  The  boy  had  by  anticipation  put  on  his 
chosen  life;  already  gait,  attire,  and  mien,  were 
sailor-like.  It  was  evidently  a  day  of  triumph  with 
him :  he  had  his  way.  Neither  the  physiognomy 
of  his  captain  nor  the  cares  of  the  future  disturbed 


112  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

him.  The  father  drew  a  sigh  as  he  signed  the  in- 
denture. Not  so  he ;  he  signed  it  as  though  it  had 
been  the  receipt  for  a  good  legacy,  and  he  lightly 
raised  his  head.  Ah,  but,  I  thought,  a  great  deal 
more  lies  on  that  head  now  than  when  you  stooped 
it  a  moment  ago  !  There  you  are,  delivered  up  to 
the  sovereign  caprice,  the  wills,  the  words,  the  noon- 
day and  the  midnight  mandates  of  that  uncomely 
skij>per ;  no  small  matter,  depend  upon  it. 

Apprenticeship  is  a  great  improvement  upon  caste. 
A  perpetual  succession  from  father  to  son  of  jewel- 
lers or  tailors,  of  joiners  or  blacksmiths,  dooming 
every  boy  that  is  born  in  the  line  to  follow  the  call- 
ing his  fathers  followed,  is  a  most  dreary  sameness  ; 
a  dead  level  sweeping  away  age  after  age  till  it  is 
lost  in  the  future ;  a  turning  of  the  social  world  into 
strata,  resting  one  upon  the  other,  each  with  its  ap- 
propriate deposit  of  men,  as  the  successive  strata  of 
rocks  have  their  deposit  of  fossils,  no  one  of  which 
can  ever  change  its  position  in  the  scale.  It  is  very 
well  for  trilobites  and  saurians  to  be  fixed  in  strata 
forever ;  they  suffer  nothing  from  want  of  sympathy, 
and  have  no  impulse  to  better  themselves  :  but  it  is 
not  the  way  for  those  who  live  and  move,  and  have 
a  being.  It  is  no  plan  for  a  world  of  brothers ;  no 
plan  for  a  world  of  sinners ;  no  plan  for  a  world 
over  which  a  Providence  watches.  It  was  natural 
as  a  first  thought  for  securing  proficiency  in  the  va- 
rious branches  of  trade,  scholarship,  and  arms ;  but 
it  was  not  a  contrivance  to  last  forever.  Yet  some- 
thing must  be  found  to^ecure  for  men  a  concentra- 


EARLY   TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.  113 

tion  of  mind  and  habit  which  would  fit  each  to  do 
some  one  thing  well  for  the  general  good.  Appren- 
ticeship, in  one  form  or  other,  is  the  resort  of  all  who 
want  to  accomplish  anything  upon  the  earth.  Each 
of  the  professions  has  its  curriculum  :  the  future  am- 
bassador apprentices  patiently  as  an  attache ;  the 
embryo  statesman  "binds"  himself  to  his  leader, 
and  "  serves  "  his  party ;  the  soldier  has  his  drill ; 
and  in  all  lines  of  art,  a  man  must  either  make  up 
his  mind  to  lay  out  a  long  time  in  learning,  or  else 
to  be  a  blank  and  an  abortion.  Men  enter  the  high- 
way of  life  by  ten  thousand  portals ;  but  over  each 
one  of  them  is  written  the  injunction,  Learn,  learn, 
learn  !  And  he  that  attempts  to  go  forward  without 
having  waited  to  learn,  soon  trips  and  is  lying  in 
the  way  of  others. 

Rejecting,  then,  the  succession  from  father  to  son, 
we  secure  a  succession  in  lineage  of  craft.  One  man 
adopts  the  son  of  another  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
of  trade.  The  son  of  one  man  takes  another  for  his 
father  to  all  intents  and  purposes  of  trade.  A  very 
solemn  parentage  and  a  very  solemn  affiliation  it  is. 
The  boy  has  elsewhere  the  parentage  of  his  affec- 
tions ;  here  he  is  most  likely  to  find  the  parentage 
of  his  principles  and  habits.  The  man  has  in  others 
the  children  of  his  blood,  the  heirs  of  his  money ; 
here  he  is  likely  to  find  the  offspring  of  his  con- 
science, the  heir  and  the  propagator  of  his  practices. 
It  is  astonishing  how  strikingly  the  conscience  of 
men  bears  the  image  of  those  by  whom  they  have 
been  trained.     If  we  could  make  all  the  consciences 

8 


114  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

in  this  wide  London  march  out  before  us  in  one  great 
array,  you  might  easily  classify  them  by  the  family 
likeness.  You  would  soon  select  a  group  of  the 
soldier  conscience,  another  of  the  lawyer  conscience, 
another  of  the  shopkeeper  conscience,  another  of  the 
innkeeper  conscience,  another  of  the  pawnbroker 
conscience,  another  of  the  publican  conscience,  and 
so  on.  Men  talk  of  conscience  as  if  it  were  a  deter- 
mined something,  like  the  colour  of  a  man's  hair, 
which  depended  altogether  on  interior  causes  and 
was  not  modified  by  things  from  without.  It  is  far 
otherwise.  The  maxims  which  men  hear  passing 
from  hand  to  hand,  the  proverbs  and  the  usages  of 
their  comrades,  the  sanctions  which  are  conferred 
upon  actions,  the  gloss  given  to  dealings,  all  form  a 
style  of  thought  whereby  the  moral  appearance  of 
acts  is  wonderfully  modified.  The  soldier  has  a 
morality  of  sack  and  duel,  clear  enough  to  himself; 
the  slave-owner  has  a  theory  of  servitude,  according 
to  which  he  is  an  excellent  person  ;  the  loaf-and-fish 
parson  has  a  syllogism  upon  simony,  whereby  it  is 
shown  to  be  exceedingly  proper ;  the  diplomatist  is 
copious  in  proofs  of  the  utility  of  "  mystifications " 
which  in  a  nursery  would  be  downright  fibs ;  the 
lawyer  can  plead  for  equivocal  morals  till  conscience 
declares  them  not  guilty;  the  doctor  can  gild  ill- 
tasted  morals  till  conscience  swallows  them  without 
disgust ;  the  grocer  can  spice  unsavoury  morals  till 
conscience  declares  them  fragrant ;  the  draper  can 
dress  misshapen  morals  till  conscience  sees  no  de- 
formity.    Men  always  love  to  find  a  good  reason  and 


EAIILY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.  115 

a  good  name  for  a  bad  act.  They  do  not  like  to  go 
on  in  a  steady  course,  and  confess  that  it  is  wrong 
they  are  doing ;  they  like  to  stand  well  with  them- 
selves; and  it  is  really  wonderful  with  what  in- 
genuity they  will  father  a  whole  brood  of  illegitimate 
acts  on  some  most  irreproachable  principle.  Never 
fail  to  suspect  yourself,  when  you  find  that  you  are 
getting  up  a  great  array  of  reason  to  prove  that 
what  you  are  about  to  do  is  right. 

Yes,  ye  masters,  it  is  an  adoption,  a  right  serious 
and  responsible  adoption,  when  you  take  a  boy  out 
of  the  hands  of  his  parents,  receive  him  under  your 
roof,   and   place   him   under   your   eye   for    seven 
years;    to   provide   him   a   chamber   by  night,    a 
board  by  day,  a  place  to  labour,  work  to  do,  and 
lessons  to  form  his  future  manhood.     The  seven 
years  he  is  to  pass  in  your  hands  are  the  spring 
and  the  seed-time  of  his  life ;  the  future  crop  for 
this  world  and  for  the  other  is  chiefly  dependent  on 
the  present  sowing.     His  whole  constitution  is  now 
flexible,  his  principles  are  just  evolving,  his  man- 
hood is  taking  mould ;  and  according  to  the  care 
and    example   he   may   have   during   those   seven 
years  of  seed-time,  he  will  hereafter  pass  a  life  of 
uprightness  and  worth,  or  a  life  of  shuffle  and  mis- 
chief.    He  will  go  forth  your  son  in  trade.     He 
will  bear  your  image  and  likeness.     He  will  be  a 
credit  to  you,  or  a  reproach.     In  him  others  will 
read  you  ;  and  happy  for  you  if  their  conclusion  be, 
"  O,  I  should  like  my  son  to  be  apprenticed  to  the 
master  he  served !" 


116  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

There  is  a  peculiar  closeness  in  this  adoption. 
When  your  pastor  does  not  see  you,  when  your 
fellow-communicants  do  not  see  you,  when  your 
friends  and  visiting  circle  do  not  see  you,  your 
adopted  boy  has  his  eye  on  your  works  and  way. 
Ay !  tests  of  principle,  traits  of  character,  proofs  of 
your  real  estimate  of  truth  and  honour,  to  which 
even  your  wife  is  a  stranger,  come  by  degrees  be- 
fore his  eye.  That  which  brother  or  wife  may  have 
only  chance  opportunities  of  seeing,  he  is  ever 
finding  out.  Yes,  while  your  own  children  are  far 
away  under  the  training  of  others,  your  son  in 
trade  is  ever  there  under  your  own  hand,  up  to  the 
day  when  you  must  send  him  forth  to  tell,  by  his 
walk,  how  you  have  discharged  your  duty.  Your 
character  acts  upon  his  with  a  tremendous  direct- 
ness and  continuity ;  it  meets  him  at  every  turn,  it 
penetrates  into  his  mind  through  every  inlet.  All 
things  around  him  convey  it  into  his  soul :  the 
house  he  lives  in,  by  its  arrangement  or  confusion, 
its  taste  or  vulgarity ;  the  family  of  which  he  is  a 
member,  by  their  order  or  their  negligence,  their 
mutual  love  or  their  bickerings  ;  the  shop  in  which 
he  sj>ends  his  day,  by  its  system  or  its  disarray ; 
the  account  books  to  which  he  has  access,  by  their 
regularity  or  their  confusion ;  the  companions  with 
whom  he  labours,  by  their  discipline  or  their  de- 
moralization ;  the  board  at  which  he  eats,  by  its 
plenty,  economy,  and  cleanliness,  or  by  its  stingi- 
ness, waste,  or  slovenliness ;  the  chamber  he  sleeps 
in,   by   its   comfort  or  its  cheerlessness.     In   fact, 


EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.  117 

through  his  work,  his  food,  his  week-day,  his  Sun- 
day, his  bed,  his  home,  his  companions — through 
all  objects  that  encircle  him,  you,  you  are  day  after 
day,  month  after  month,  year  after  year,  flowing 
into  his  soul  as  silently  as  the  air  flows  into  his 
breast.  You,  you  are  modifying  his  thoughts  si- 
lently as  the  air  modifies  the  blood.  You  form  the 
atmosphere  which  his  mind  breathes ;  and  if  the 
mind  is  to  be  healthy,  the  atmosphere  must  not  be 
unwholesome. 

And,  ye  masters  who  make  a  profession  of  reli- 
gion, what  tongue  is  to  tell  the  responsibility  that 
lies  on  you !  A  solicitous  pair  have  decided  at 
last  that  their  boy  is  to  follow  your  trade.  They 
have  inquired  for  a  place  where  his  comfort  would 
be  thought  of,  and  his  soul  not  forgotten.  They 
have  heard  that  you  are  a  member  of  such  a  Church, 
therefore  to  you  they  confide  their  lad.  They  tell 
him  that  under  your  roof  he  will  be  protected  from 
many  temptations,  and  encouraged  in  everything 
good.  They  leave  him  with  you.  For  a  slight 
mistake  he  receives  a  savage  rebuke.  Or,  he  is 
soberly  instructed  in  some  method  of  dealing  which 
is  plainly  unfair.  Or,  at  family  prayer,  he  sees 
that  his  master  is  evidently  under  the  excitement 
of  the  glass.  Or,  on  Saturday  night  he  is  kept  at 
work  till  the  Sabbath  has  set  in.  Or,  on  Sabbath 
morning  he  finds  that  it  is  expected  he  will  go  out 
for  that  day,  to  save  the  trouble  and  expense  of  a 
table  at  home.  Ah !  far  better  for  a  boy  to  be 
thrown  among  those  who  name  not  the  name  of 


118  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

religion,  but  sin  on  consistently,  than  among  those 
who  blend  religion  and  sin  in  a  most  poisonous 
combination.     A  poor  boy  doomed  to  be  five  or 
seven  years  under  the  hands  of  an  unworthy  pro- 
fessor of  religion,   is  in  the  highroad  to  all  evil; 
and  if  he  escapes  that  goal,  surely  both  he  and  his 
may  bless  God.     The  man  who  was  to  be  his  pat- 
tern teaches  him  to  coquette  with  truth,  to  tarnish 
honour,    to    be    an    adroit    money-catcher    at    all 
hazards,  to  make  integrity  a  convenience,  and  gain 
a    necessary,    to    invent    quirks,    to    mask    unfair 
doings,  to  reconcile  fraud  and  family  worship,  fibs 
and  the  Lord's  table,  selfishness  and  devotion.    The 
man  that  was  to  be  his  pattern  becomes  his  tempt- 
er •  the  vears  of  his  youth,  which  were  to  fortify 
the  principles  imbibed  in  his  childhood,  sap  and 
undermine  them ;  and  his  training,  which  was  to 
strengthen  him  against  the  temptations  of  life,  has 
been    one   perpetual    education   to   sin!     Ah!    ye 
faithless  masters,  who  mislead  and  undo  the  youth 
committed  to  you  by  honest  parents,  your  repent- 
ance had  need  be  swift,  it  had  need  be  bitter ;  for 
one  human  life  blighted  is  a  vast  and  woful  evil — 
an  evil,  whereupon  the  great  Father  of  the  young 
soul  you  have  injured  looks  down  with  a  displea- 
sure as  deep  as  it  is  holy. 

Alas !  for  that  man  under  whose  malign  or  neg- 
ligent guardianship  the  sons  of  worthy  fathers  are 
formed" into  worthless  men  !  But  joy,  and  honour, 
and  blessing,  be  upon  the  head  of  him  who,  walk- 
ing before  his  house  in  a  perfect  way,  invests  all 


EARLY  TOILS   AND  TROUBLES.  119 

uprightness  with  an  authority  and  an  attraction 
which  invite  young  affections ;  who  removes  every- 
thing that  could  enfeeble  the  hold  of  truth  and 
righteousness  on  the  heart;  who  ever  represents 
integrity  and  not  finesse  as  the  way  to  prosperity ; 
who  endeavours  to  shed  upon  apprenticeship  the 
feeling  of  home ;  who,  by  sacred  Sabbath  rest,  by 
winning  Sabbath  comfort,  by  constant  example  of 
devout  habits,  and  by  an  occasional  word  of  warm, 
friendly,  fatherly  heartening  towards  piety,  suc- 
ceeds in  leading  the  youth  under  his  care  to  the 
knowledge  of  God,  and  in  sending  him  forth  to 
pursue  his  calling  a  good  and  a  happy  man. 
Many  a  successful  and  faithful  tradesman,  in  re- 
viewing the  mercies  of  his  life,  has  ever  to  pause 
with  especial  gratitude  when  he  comes  to  the  mo- 
ment that  placed  his  training  in  the  hands  of  a 
wise  and  worthy  master.  Many  such  masters  there 
are,  upon  whose  head  and  upon  whose  children 
meet  the  blessings  of  a  whole  family  of  former  ap- 
prentices, who  are  now  in  their  turn  imparting  the 
good  they  received.  0  that  such  masters  were  a 
thousand  times  more  in  number  than  they  are  ! 

When  Samuel  Budgett  set  forth  on  his  appren- 
ticeship, he  turned  towards  a  brother's  door.  But 
that  brother  was  fifteen  years  his  senior,  was  mas- 
ter of  a  house  and  a  business,  and  to  Samuel  ap- 
peared immensely  his  own  superior, — far  above  him 
and  formidable.  Although  Kingswood  seems  back- 
ward now,  it  was  then  greatly  behind  what  it  is  at 
present.     Of  the  modern   houses   which   bespeak 


120  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

progress  and  comfort,  not  one  bad  yet  appeared. 
The  house  occupied  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Budgett  Mas 
very  humble ;  yet  it  was  the  most  considerable  in 
the  place,  "  the  great  shop  on  the  cassy."  This 
house  has  now  disappeared ;  but  the  same  site  is 
occupied  by  a  shop  which  is  the  lineal  descendant 
of  the  former.  All  around  were  the  rude  and 
humble  cots  of  the  collier  population.  In  the 
immediate  neighbourhood  were  nests  of  organized 
robbers,  who  preyed  with  terrible  effect  on  the  sur- 
rounding country.  Samuel  then  began  his  regular 
trade-life  in  a  little  shop,  replenished  with  all 
things  which  the  matrons  of  such  homesteads  as 
abounded  at  Kingswood  might  want  for  person  or 
for  board.  His  duties  were  heavy  and  his  hours 
were  long.  It  was  the  wont  in  those  days  to  work 
on,  on,  as  if  men  inside  a  shop  were  made  of  other 
material  than  all  out-door  labourers,  for  whom  the 
fall  of  evening  proclaimed  a  rest.  By  six  o'clock 
in  the  morning  they  were  at  their  weary  counter ; 
and  nine,  ten,  or  eleven  at  night,  found  them  there 
still.  He  worked  in  the  shop,  he  worked  in  the 
bouse,  he  went  upon  errands  to  Bristol ;  he  was 
ever  at  it,  "work,  work,  work;"  and  often,  when 
in  the  height  of  his  career,  has  he  told  of  the  toil 
and  weariness  of  those  apprentice  days.  If  be 
often  relieved  a  foot  passenger  by  giving  him  a  lift 
in  his  own  vehicle,  it  was  not  without  citing  times 
when  such  a  kindness  would  have  made  bis  own 
heart  grateful.  Sometimes,  when  in  baste,  be  baa 
driven  past  a  woman  or  a  man  with  a  burden ;  but 


EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.  121 

his  heart  smote  him — he  could  not  proceed ;  he  has 
returned,  and  cased  his  own  feelings  by  easing  the 
weary.  He  was  very  little  of  his  age;  he  was  not 
strong ;  he  failed  to  give  satisfaction  to  his  brother ; 
so  that  in  the  middle  of  his  time,  namely,  in  June, 
1812,  the  latter  gave  him  notice  to  leave,  assigning 
as  the  reason,  to  use  the  words  of  a  memorandum 
of  his  own  now  before  me,  "  want  .of  ability."  To 
his  self-despising  and  sensitive  heart  this  was  a  ter- 
rible blow.     A  month  was  allowed  him  to  look  for 

a  situation.     He  heard  of  a  Mi-.  B ,  in  Bristol, 

who  had  a  vacancy.  With  a  trembling  heart  he 
entered  his  shop.  He  felt  as  if  his  size,  his  looks, 
his  dress,  everything  was  against  him.  Timidly, 
but  eagerly,  he  addressed  himself  to  Mr.  B . 

"  I  fear,  you  are  not  strong  enough  for  my  situa- 
tion." 

"  O,  do  try  me,  sir,  I  am  sure  I  can  do." 

"  Will  you  write  your  address  ?" 

He  was  not  quite  certain  what  the  word  "ad- 
dress "  might  mean,  so  he  replied,  "  I  can  write  an 
invoice,  sir." 

"  Very  well ;  write  86lbs.  of  bacon,  at  9|d. 
per  lb." 

He  wrote,  but  the  reckoning  was  wrong.  He 
tried  a  second  time,  but  again  failed.  His  heart 
sank.  Then  in  came  a  young  man  looking  for  the 
situation,  taller,  better  dressed,  and  in  every  way 
far  more  eligible  in  appearance  than  he.  At  him 
he  looked  with  despair;  against  such  a  rival  he 
could  have  no  hope.     Mrs.  B was  by,  and  ob- 


122  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MEKCHANT. 

serving  the  excitement  of  the  poor  boy,  said  a  word 
in  his  favour. 

"  But  he  is  not  strong  enough  ;  you  could  never 
carry  those  heavy  cheeses,"  pointing  to  some  high 
on  the  shelves. 

"  Do  let  me  try,  sir ;  I  am  sure  I  can  do  it." 

In  a  second  he  was  up  to  the  cheeses,  and  trium- 
phantly displayed  his  strength.  His  feelings  were 
always  highly  excitable,  and  on  an  occasion  so 
urgent  rose  to  nervous  intensity.     This,   with  his 

whole  spirit,  quite  won  Mrs.  B .     She  pleaded 

for  him ;  her  husband  consented ;  and  he  left  the 
shop  happy  in  the  knowledge  that  when  his  month 
was  ended  he  had  a  place  awaiting  him. 

He  obtained  permission  to  leave  Kingswood  two 
or  three  days  before  the  expiration  of  the  month, 
that  he  might  visit  his  good  parents  at  Coleford. 
A  younger  brother  was  now  apprenticed  in  Bristol, 
and  desirous  that  he  too  should  have  the  pleasute 
of  visiting  home,  he  applied  for  permisssion  for  him, 
and  succeeded.  The  last  morning  came,  when  he 
had  to  leave  the  scene  of  his  three  years'  toil,  a  dis- 
missed apprentice.  His  heart  was  sore — how  sore 
you  may  judge,  when  up  to  the  last  he  could  tell 
every  minute  incident  of  that  morning, — all  the 
little  kindnesses  shown  to  him,  what  was  given  him 
to  breakfast,  and  what  to  eat  upon  the  way.  He 
had  asked  for  a  character ;  but  no  sooner  was  it  in 
his  hand,  than  he  trembled  lest  it  should  be  un- 
favi  >urable.  In  his  excitement  he  turned  into  a  gate 
close  by,  opened  it,  and  read  ;  and  to  his  comfort 


EARLY  TOILS  AND   TROUBLES.  123 

found  that  want  of  strength  Avas  all  that  was 
alleged  against  him.  On  the  spot  where  he  made 
that  palpitating  pause,  afterwards  stood  his  own 
house  and  grounds. 

Joined  by  his  brother,  he  set  out  for  Coleford. 
To  most  lads,  the  failure  to  cast  up  correctly  the 
price  of  86lbs.  of  bacon,  at  9|d.  per  pound.,  would 
scarcely  have  recurred,  except  to  make  them  con- 
gratulate themselves  on  having  got  over  it  so  easily. 
Not  so  Samuel  Budgett.  He  saw  that  would  never 
do ;  he  should  not  get  on  if  he  could  not  tell  the 
price  of  pounds,  half-pounds,  quarter-pounds,  of 
bacon,  butter,  and  all  things.  His  brother  had  en- 
joyed greater  advantages  of  education  than  he,  and 
the  walk  with  him  to  Coleford  was  a  chance  he  was 
not  likely  to  let  run  to  waste.  So  as  they  walked  he 
practised  addition  and  multiplication  on  all  the 
changes  of  bacon,  butter,  cheese,  and  such  practical 
matters.  "  One  hundred  pounds  at  a  penny  a 
pound,  eight  and  fourpence ;"  and  so  on,  on  he 
went,  mercilessly  forcing  out  of  his  brother  all  his 
arithmetical  lore.  His  brother  soon  grew  tired  of 
these  peripatetics ;  but  Samuel  was  not  to  be  tired 
where  an  object  was  in  view,  so  he  kept  repeating 
what,  he  had  learned,  varying  it,  getting  into  dif- 
ficulty again,  asking,  and  extracting  all  the  infor- 
mation he  could  get ;  thus  making  great  head  in 
the  art  of  ready  reckoning.  As  they  trudged  and 
studied,  night  fell,  and  they  were  yet  far  from  Cole- 
ford. Still  they  pressed  toward  home, — the  one 
brother    eagerly   pursuing   knowledge,    the    other 


124  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

wearied  both  of  travel  and  tuition.  They  found 
that  they  had  lost  their  way.  Presently  they  were 
by  the  fire  of  a  coke  kiln  at  Newton,  near  to  Bath. 
Their  strength  was  worn  out,  so  down  they  sat, 
overpowered  by  fatigue,  to  pass  the  night  by  the 
kiln.  Sleep  came  jo-essing  heavily;  but  O,  those 
hobgoblins  whose  feats  had  been  impressed  on  the 
susceptible  mind  of  Samuel  by  his  worsted-spinning 
schoolmistress  !  they  kept  rising  in  his  imagination, 
and  every  noise  was  the  harbinger  of  some  coming 
horror.  Doubtless  that  special  ghost  who  had  been 
addicted  to  haunting  the  coalpit  would  be  vividly 
present  to  his  recollection.  What  with  the  ache  in 
his  heart,  the  fatigue  in  his  limbs,  the  loss  of  his 
way,  the  sleep  on  his  eyes,  and  the  sprites  in  his 
brain,  even  that  June  night  was  long  and  dreary — 
a  night  of  discomfort  that  would  return  to  the  me- 
mory when  a  thousand  nights  of  sweet  repose  were 
all  forgotten.  It  passed,  however,  without  any 
worse  evil  than  a  great  alarm  from  a  footstep,  a 
figure,  and  a  voice,  which,  nevertheless,  belonged 
neither  to  a  ghost  nor  an  enemy,  but  only  to  a  man 
connected  with  the  pits.  At  length  the  summer 
morn  dawned  on  the  weary  boys,  and  a  good  carter 
happening  to  pass,  indulged  them  with  a  ride  to 
Coleford. 

It  would  seem  that  things  at  home  had  not  pros- 
pered during  Samuel's  absence.  The  family  was 
large,  and  trial  seemed  to  be  the  allotted  portion 
of  his  admirable  mother.  When  they  arrived,  she 
was  preparing  breakfast  for  the  children.     The  fare 


EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.         125 

was  hard  :  it  told  Samuel  of  straits  and  pinches.  It 
went  through  his  heart.  It  woke  again  all  his  pur- 
poses to  lift  the  family  up.  Had  his  impulse  to 
rise  and  prosper  for  their  sakes  been  in  danger 
of  failing,  that  day's  visit  would  have  roused  it 
afresh. 

He  started  for  his  new  situation ;  but  his  early 
taste  for  bye-trading  seems  to  have  been  rekindled. 
On  the  road  he  met  a  man  who  had  a  jay ;  and 
fixing  his  attention  on  the  bird,  concluded  a  pur- 
chase for  threepence.  On  he  went  to  Bristol,  and 
having  a  good  part  of  a  day  to  spare,  he  hoped  to 
make  a  profit  of  his  jay.  Therefore  he  proceeded 
to  the  bridge,  and  taking  his  stand  there  with  the 
jay  on  his  hand,  offered  it  publicly  for  sale.  The  day 
was  passing  away  and  he  had  found  no  purchaser. 
Fearful  of  losing  his  chance  altogether,  he  forsook 
his  exposed  but  unsuccessful  position  on  the  bridge, 
and  set  off  to  some  private  houses  where  he  had  an 
idea  that  they  were  fanciers  of  birds.  At  length  he 
"  effected  a  sale  "  for  a  shilling  ;  thus  realizing  nine- 
pence  for  the  labour  of  the  day. 

That  spectacle  of  the  lad  standing  in  the  thorough- 
fare with  his  jay  on  his  hand,  is  one  we  cannot 
help  looking  at.  He  was  now  about  eighteen  years 
of  age.  He  had  been  frequently  in  Bristol,  and 
therefore  knew  something  of  a  great  town.  The 
simplicity  of  his  childish  village  dealings  could  not 
now  exist.  He  must  feel  the  peculiarity  of  his  posi- 
tion as  he  placed  himself  there.  But  he  had  seen 
his  mother  preparing  poor,  hard  fare  for  the  child- 


126  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

ren.     He  had,  years  ago,  devoted   himself  to  the 
work  of  making  for  her  a  happy  home.     It  had 
seemed  to  him  a  call  and  a  commission ;  and  that 
so  sacred,  that  it  balanced  his  desire  to  become  an 
evangelist  to  the  heathen.     He  had  an  edifice  to 
build,  and  he  cared  not  into  what  uninviting  quarry 
he  went  to  find  even  one  stone  to  lay  at  its  foundation. 
Perhaps  there  was  not  in  England  another  lad  of 
his  age  and  circumstances  who  would  not  have  been 
ashamed  to  place  himself  on  that  bridge  to  make  a 
few  pence  by  selling  a  bird,  even  though  urged  by 
the  most  sacred  family  claims.     Yet  our  potentates 
of  the  press  would  be  more  apt  to  dwell  upon  a 
brilliant  pirouette  of  a  ballad  dancer,  a  successful 
quaver  of  a  cantatrice,  a  happy  couplet,  a  brilliant 
metaphor,  a  glowing  peroration,  or  a  flashy  jest! 
Any  bright  trait  of  talent,  albeit  disjoined    from 
every  worthy  purpose   and  every  sacred   applica- 
tion ;  any  sparkling  of  genius,  albeit  the  man  who 
sparkles  wallows  at  the  same  time  and  is  foul ;  any 
blaze   of  the  wonderful,  albeit   he   who   astounds 
never  ennobles  his  own  life  or  ameliorates  the  lot  of 
others,  is  welcomed  with  devotion  by  the  literati, 
and  proclaimed  in  chimes  of  eulogy.     But  a  boy 
whose  purpose  to  do  good  for  his  father's  house 
pushes  on  his  heart  till  he  forgets  youthful  pride 
and  braves  the  eye  of  all,  is  just  acknowledged  to 
do  a  feat,  but  a  feat  in  which  the  comical  would,  in 
their  sight,  overlie  the  noble.     Well,  so  be  it.    Yet 
we  would  rather  be  writing  here  of  that  lad  and  his 
jay,  than  of  all  the  Siddonses,  Malibrans,  and  such 


EARLY  TOILS  AND   TROUBLES.  127 

like  comets  of  your  fashionable  hemisphere.  Ay, 
and  in  his  exposure  of  himself  to  personal  fatigue 
and  shame  that  he  might  begin  the  good  work 
whereon  he  had  set  his  heart,  we  would  see  a 
worthier  theme  of  commendation  than  in  the  play 
of  gorgeous  genius  linked  only  with  objects  useless 
or  unwise. 

The  jay  sold,  he  next  morning  repaired  to  the 

house  of  Mr.  B .     Here  he  was  very  successful. 

His  master  soon  knew  his  value,  "and  his  mistress 
treated  him  with  the  greatest  kindness.  Of  these 
worthy  people  (the  latter  of  whom  still  lives)  he  al- 
ways spoke  with  gratitude.  When  he  had  spent 
about  six  months  with  them,  his  brother  became 
desirous  to  recall  him  to  his  service.     To  this  Mr. 

B strongly  objected,  alleging  that  as  his  brother 

had  dismissed  him  he  could  not  possibly  have  any 
claim.  He  was  very  warm  upon  the  point,  and 
offered  Samuel  an  "  advancing  salary  "  if  he  would 
only  stay.  But  his  brother  told  him  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  serve  out  his  time.  This  decided  him.  He 
gave  up  his  salary  in  Bristol  and  returned  to  Kings- 
wood  to  complete  the  three  years  and  more  of  the 
apprenticeship  which  remained. 

I  do  not  know  whether  it  was  in  this  second  ap- 
prenticeship or  in  the  first,  that,  by  some  means,  he 
became  possessed  of  fifteen  shillings.  Two  of  his 
sisters  had  come  into  Bristol  and  begun  business, 
and  he  went  to  a  coal-pit,  and  laid  out  all  his  fifteen 
shillings  in  coals  for  them  :  thus  a  second  time,  when 
he  had  saved  a  little,  he  "  gave  it  all  away."     In 


128  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

fact  his  two  passions  for  gathering  and  giving  fol- 
lowed him  in  all  things,  both  great  and  small.  He 
soon  became  a  favourite  with  the  customers  of  the 
shop.  He  put  so  much  heart  into  his  attentions, 
and  had,  withal,  such  address  in  his  mode  of  serving 
them,  that  many  imagined  they  got  better  weight 
from  him  than  from  anyone  else.  Many  of  the  good 
women  would  wait  long  till  he  was  at  liberty  to  ex- 
ecute their  orders ;  and  as  many  of  the  cottages  have 
gardens  attached  "to  them,  it  was  not  uncommon  for 
his  friends  to  bring  him.  presents  of  apples.  Here, 
again,  his  economy  and  his  generosity  came  in.  He 
would  not  eat  the  apples ;  they  were  too  valuable, 
he  thought,  to  waste  upon  himself,  so  they  were  all 
carefully  stored,  and  regularly  sent  to  a  pious  widow- 
ed aunt  residing  in  Bristol.  When  she  died,  he  did 
not  appoint  himself  her  heir  in  respect  of  the  apples^ 
but  voted  another  friend  into  that  privilege. 

During  this  time  his  Sundays  were  welcome  days. 
The  first  dawn  of  improvement  on  Kingswood  had 
come  with  Whitefield  and  Wesley.  Their  words  had 
been  wonderful  to  the  rude,  bad  men  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood ;  and  on  not  a  few  the  effect  had  been 
wonderful  too.  Many  an  evil  life  had  been  fash- 
ioned anew,  and  many  a  wretched  home  lighted  up 
with  the  charities  and  the  joys  of  pure  religion. 
Whitefield  had  built  a  tabernacle;  Wesley  had 
founded  a  school.  Each  had  been  a  light  to  the 
place.  Adjoining  the  school,  Avas  a  chapel ;  and 
there  it  was  the  wont  of  Samuel  Budgett,  in  his  ap- 
prentice days,  to  repair  each  Sunday  morning,  with 


EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.  129 

a  mind  eager  for  ever)  beam  of  intellectual  light, 
with  a  heart  hungry  for  every  crumb  of  spiritual 
food.  For  the  week  his  intellect  had  been  doomed 
to  dearth;  and  no  week  ever  passes  but  it  brings 
the  soul  temptations.  On  the  Sabbatli  morning,  his 
intellect  gasped  for  knowledge,  his  soul  gasped  for 
grace.  To  him,  a  sermon  was  indeed  a  repast,  a 
banquet,  a  festival.  O,  ye  preachers,  did  ye  only 
know  what  hungry  minds  and  hungry  souls  go  to 
you  each  Lord's-day  and  look  up  to  be  fed,  it  would 
both  stir  you  to  search  for  wholesome  bread,  and  en- 
courage you  in  dispensing  what  you  bring !  Often, 
often  when  Samuel  had  heard  a  sermon,  he  would 
put  his  fingers  in  his  ears  to  exclude  every  sound 
that  might  drive  away  one  thought  from  his  memory, 
and  hurrying  from  the  chapel,  would  not  stop  till  he 
had  reached  an  old  quarry  that  lay  behind  their 
house.  Here  were  scattered  about  some  pieces  of 
"slag,"  from  abandoned  "spelter"  or  zinc  works. 
On  one  of  these  pieces  of  slag  he  would  seat  himself, 
and  with  eager  joy  lay  up  for  future  recollection 
every  important  point  of  the  discourse.  He  would 
then  turn  to  his  hymn-book,  and  to  a  volume  of  the 
Methodist  Magazine,  and  from  one  or  other  of 
these  would  commit  to  memory  some  passage  every 
Sunday  without  exception, — something  that  might 
serve  both  to  yield  him  good  thoughts  during  the 
week,  and  to  relieve  the  hunger  he  continually  felt 
for  mental  food.  Sometimes,  as  he  sat  on  the  piece 
of  slag  and  looked  around  on  the  old  waste  quarry, 
he  wondered  if  any  of  those  places  would  ever  belong 

9 


130  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

to  him.  Afterwards  his  own  shrubbery  nourished 
over  the  site  of  the  quarry,  and  some  blocks  of  the  slag 
garnished  the  edge  of  a  piece  of  water  in  his  grounds. 

On  a  fragment  of  paper  which  has  survived  his 
destruction  of  his  memoranda,  I  find  a  few  sentences 
evidently  belonging  to  a  date  about  the  close  of  his 
apprenticeship,  in  which  his  eagerness  for  improve- 
ment breaks  out  strongly :  "My  time  is  flown,  and 
I  am  what  I  am,  instead  of  being  what  I  might  have 
been.  My  object,  now,  is  to  regain  as  far  as  possi- 
ble what  I  have  lost,  and  to  obtain  all  that  is  attain- 
able. My  question  now  is,  how  shall  I  become  what 
I  may  be  ?  Shall  I  not  do  better,  as  I  am  single, 
to  remain  so  for  the  present,  and  to  keep  my  eye 
singly  directed  to  the  attainment  of  religious  and 
useful  knowledge  ?  O  wisdom !  0  knowledge  ! 
The  very  expressions  convey  ideas  so  delightful  to 
my  mind  that  I  am  ready  to  leap  out  and  fly  ;  for 
why  should  my  ideas  always  be  confined  within  the 
narrow  compass  of  our  shop  walls  ?" 

Yes,  why  indeed  ?  In  whatever  department  of 
labour  Providence  may  assign  to  man  his  task,  he 
has  within  him  the  mind  which  is  open  to  the  infi- 
nite and  destined  to  the  eternal.  It  is  ever  there, 
capable  of  expansion,  growth,  and  fruit,  although  it 
may  be  benumbed  and  frozen  by  the  cares  and  toils 
of  earth.  All  minds  should  have  food  ;  for  the  soul 
to  be  without  knowledge  is  not  good;  and  they 
whose  calling  places  them  amid  the  bustle  of  com- 
merce in  its  lower  and  more  hurrying  walks,  require, 
as  much  as  any  class  of  men  on  earth   the  refresh- 


EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.  131 

ment  and  the  elevation  which  knowledge,  fitly 
sought  and  judiciously  seleeted,  is  calculated  to  be- 
stow. But,  in  the  aspirations  of  Samuel  Budgett 
quoted  above,  we  certainly  have  not  the  mawkish 
lonffinsr  of  a  would-be  intellectual  for  amusing;  books 
instead  of  fatiguing  business.  We  have  there  the 
honest  outcry  of  a  mind  which  by  innate  energy 
must  work,  for  material  to  wTork  upon. 

There  are  two  things  which,  to  look  upon,  are 
very  uncomely.  The  one,  a  man  who  has  risen  in 
the  world,  and  as  he  rose  has  improved  his  attire, 
improved  his  abode,  improved  his  fare,  improved 
his  furniture,  improved  his  children,  improved  his 
servants,  improved  his  circle  of  friends,  but  has 
never  improved  his  mind.  There  it  is,  the  same 
mind  precisely  in  fine  broadcloth  and  "  velvet  hat," 
that  it  was  in  fustian  and  j)aper  cap ;  the  same 
mind  with  a  carriage  and  pair,  that  it  was  with 
heavy  clogs ;  the  same  mind  with  silver  services 
and  champagne  and  venison,  that  it  was  with 
pewter  and  cheese  and  ale ;  the  same  mind  with 
daughters  that  can  play  Handel  and  read  Eacine, 
that  it  would  have  been  with  daughters  who  never 
touched  a  key  or  opened  a  grammar ;  the  same 
mind  with  circles  of  educated  friends,  who  value  his 
sense  and  worth  despite  the  remnants  of  the  out- 
landish, as  it  was  with  friends  whose  talk  was  in 
dialect  of  other  days  and  all  on  themes  intimate  to 
the  village. 

Now,  that  kind  of  spectacle  is  beyond  doubt  most 
particularly  uncomely.    You  never  see  it  without 


132  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

feeling  your  temper  a  little  tried.  In  the  name  of 
common  sense  and  common  propriety,  why  did  not 
the  man,  when  he  saw  that  Providence  was  lifting 
him  up  in  society,  take  a  little  pains  to  fit  himself 
for  his  new  position,  as  he  did  to  fit  everything  about 
him  for  it.  He  would  not  furnish  his  fine  house 
with  the  same  articles  which  sufficed  for  his  original 
dwelling.  The  house  must  needs  have  seemly  fur- 
niture ;  and  it  should  also  have  a  seemly  master. 
Three  legged  stools  and  plain  deal  tables  would  look 
quaint  beside  damasks  and  mirrors  and  chandeliers ; 
but  do  not  queer  rough  accents  and  vulgar  phrases 
look  quite  as  odd  there  ?  Do  then,  if  rising  in  life, 
take  a  little  pains ;  not  to  make  yourself  an  accom- 
plished man  in  letters  or  in  etiquette, — that  is  out  of 
the  question  now,  and  it  is  not  the  thing  for  you  to 
run  after  even  if  hope  of  overtaking  it  remained, — 
but,  take  a  little  pains  to  rub  off  all  offensive  rough- 
nesses which  have  been  left  by  early  neglect,  and 
which  abridge  your  influence  and  usefulness  in  your 
new  sphere.  But  remember,  young  lady  at  the 
grand  piano,  you  are  not  to  blush  for  the  ill-ordered 
grammar  of  papa.  He  is  of  a  great  deal  more  con- 
sideration in  the  world  than  you  will  ever  be.  You 
will  never  rise  above  the  level  to  which  his  brave 
arm  carries  you,  and  had  it  not  been  for  his  talent 
and  worth  you  would  not  have  been  at  that  piano, 
but  mayhap  at  a  spinning  jenny.  Honour  him  as 
he  deserves,  and  all  sensible  men  will  honour  you. 
See  that  you  use  well  the  valuable  fruits  which  his 
labours  have  obtained  for  you. 


EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.  133 

But  uncomely  as  is  the  spectacle  of  a  man,  whose 
mind  is  behind  his  circumstances,  there  is  another 
spectacle  quite  as  uncomely  and  far  more  provoking. 
A  young  man  whom  Providence  has  plainly  de- 
signed to  serve  his  generation  by  following  some 
useful  business,  has  taken  it  into  his  head  to  be  a 
man  of  parts  and  a  hero  hunter.  He  has  some  no- 
tion of  the  new  books  and  of  the  great  men  who  are 
just  now  a  going.  He  is  deep  in  Warren,  thinks 
well  of  Macaulay,  patronizes  Carlyle,  has  an  opinion 
on  Chateaubriand  and  Alexander  Dumas,  knows 
that  Tennyson  is  poet  laureate,  and  kneels  down  to 
Dickens.  He  is  versed  in  the  parliamentary  orators, 
balances  D'Israeli  and  Derby  most  nicely,  is  at  home 
on  the  merits  of  the  great  preachers,  and,  above  all 
things,  his  talk  smells  of  science.  He  often  hears 
Professor  Polysmatter,  Professor  Panprattle,  and 
Professor  Polyphloisbos,  who  lecture  on  aesthetics, 
megalosauri,  metempsychosis,  and  several  other 
things  Avith  brave  names;  he,  therefore,  talks  of 
elements,  strata,  developments,  oxygen,  carbonic 
acid,  and  the  vital  principle.  He  is  very  "intel- 
lectual," and,  in  business,  very  good  for  nothing. 
He  makes  a  great  figure  in  discussion,  but  a  poor 
figure  in  work.  He  sneers  at  his  neighbour,  who 
has  not  "  two  ideas ;"  but  his  neighbour  has  a  quiet 
consciousness  that  with  his  one  idea,  he  manages  to 
get  on  better  than  Polysmatter  with  his  profusion 
of  ideas.  He  wonders  how  his  neighbour  has  so 
little  taste;  his  neighbour  wonders  how  he  has  so 
little  sense.     He  is  surprised  that   his   neighbour 


134  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

does  not  buy  more  books  and  hear  more  professors  ; 
his  neighbour  wonders  how  he  can  be  constantly 
running  after  everything  but  his  business.  He 
thinks  his  neighbour  not  at  all  fit  to  converse  with 
men  of  education  ;  his  neighbour  sees  that  men  of 
education  never  laugh  at  him,  while  they  always 
laugh  at  Polvsmatter. 

Now,  this  Polysmatter  is  ridiculous  even  beside 
the  good  man  who  is  untutored  amid  glittering 
affluence.  You  may  regret  that  the  latter  has  not 
been  awake  to  the  duty  of  self-improvement ;  but 
you  cannot  despise  him.  He  has  not  missed  his 
way.  He  is  no  abortion.  He  has  done  his  work. 
He  has  elevated  a  family.  He  has  set  an  example 
of  energy.  He  has  filled  up  in  the  movement  of 
society  the  full  place  of  a  workman.  As  he  stands 
there  in  his  homeliness,  even  though  you  were  as 
fastidious  as  Beau  Nash,  you  prefer  him  ten  thou- 
sand times  to  an  imposture  of  a  man,  who,  being- 
called  to  labour  at  an  honest  trade,  betakes  him- 
self to  dandifying  his  intellect.  "  But,"  cries  Polv- 
smatter, "  a  man  ought  to  improve  his  mind."  To 
be  sure  he  ought ;  but  do  you  call  that  kind  of 
work  improving  the  mind — turning  it  away  from 
the  task  God  has  set  before  it,  giving  it  a  disrelish 
for  plain  and  serviceable  duty,  habituating  it  to 
sips,  and  scents,  and  whiffs,  and  glimpses,  and  pass- 
ing tones  of  every  sort  of  glossy,  pretty,  jingling 
smarter,  and  thus  unfitting  it  for  all  sober  thought 
and  real  knowledge,  all  deep  search  after  truth,  all 
earnest  application  to  duty.     Improve  your  mind, 


EARLY   TOILS   AND   TROUBLES.  135 

indeed!  You  are  leading  it,  poor  mind,  a  most 
ruinous  course ;  you  are  spoiling  its  taste,  spoiling 
its  digestion,  relaxing  its  muscles,  enfeebling  its 
joints  and  sinews,  and  making  it  fit  neither  for 
books  nor  business — a  sheer  wreck  of  dissipation. 
You  are  just  doing  with  your  mind  what  a  man 
would  do  with  his  body,  if,  under  pretext  of  im- 
proving it,  he  set  to  and  learned  the  names  of  all 
the  most  celebrated  pastry  cooks,  made  acquaint- 
ance with  all  the  tastiest  dishes,  all  the  richest 
wines,  all  the  best  spicery,  and  fed  himself  with 
tastes  of  dainty  confectionary  and  scents  of  per- 
fumery. He  might  be  a  great  connoisseur,  might 
have  a  deal  to  say,  and  might  enjoy  the  thing  for 
a  while ;  but  his  poor  body  would  soon  be  unfit  for 
any  purpose  for  which  God  ever  sent  a  man  into 
the  world.  This  is  quite  the  case  with  the  mind  of 
a  man  who,  having  little  time  to  read,  sets  up  for  a 
savant,  and  runs  about  tasting  literary  confection- 
ary, instead  of  taking  some  substantial  food,  eating 
it,  digesting  it,  absorbing  it  into  his  own  frame,  and 
deriving  from  it  both  vivacity  and  force. 

Many  who  pretend  to  be  improving  their  minds 
are  not  only  dissipating  it,  but  debasing  it.  Im- 
proving it !  what  do  they  introduce  to  it  by  way 
of  improving  it,  forsooth  ?  Fiction,  nonsense,  trifle, 
trash,  intrigue,  the  vices  in  court-dress.  If  their 
mind  is  to  be  improved  by  that,  it  must  be  bad 
indeed.  No,  no ;  it  is  idle  to  say  that  the  things 
which  many  read  are  read  from  any  view  to  im- 
provement.    Such  things  are  read  from  sheer  bad- 


136  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

ness  of  heart,  from  the  love  of  evil  excitement,  from 
the  impulse  of  the  great  tempter.  For  one  man 
who  reads  novels  from  anything  like  a  literary 
aim,  there  are  a  thousand  who  read  them  just  be- 
cause they  stimulate  low  passions. 

Yes,  you  ought  to  improve  your  mind;  but, 
then,  take  care  you  do  not  set  up  for  a  man  of 
parts.  From  that  day  your  mind  is  in  a  lost  case 
— as  lost  as  a  garden-plot  in  which  you  attempted 
to  grow  cereals,  vegetables,  flowers,  shrubs,  and 
forest-trees  all  in  one  crop.  If  you  want  to  im- 
prove your  mind,  do  what  Samuel  Budgett  did. 
Feel  that  you  know  little ;  be  content  that  others 
should  see  that ;  ask  questions  which  show  your 
ignorance ;  set  about  reading  something  solid, — 
something  which  will  enable  you  better  to  under- 
stand man,  the  earth,  the  sky,  the  Bible.  Learn 
your  own  tongue.  Learn  j'our  own  world.  Know 
not  only  its  continents,  but  its  nooks ;  not  only  its 
nations,  but  its  tribes;  not  only  its  great  systems, 
but  its  sects.  Learn  history,  ancient,  modern, 
ecclesiastical, — any  branch  of  it ;  for  all  tell  of  man 
and  of  Providence.  Learn  poetry ;  fix  some  of  it, 
however  little,  in  your  memory.  A  few  good 
pieces  made  thoroughly  your  own,  will  insensibly 
refine  your  taste,  elevate  your  conceptions,  and  im- 
prove your  mode  of  expression.  Learn,  in  tact, 
anything  that  is  real,  solid,  useful ;  but  learn  it. 
Do  not  taste  and  smell ;  eat.  Do  not  perfume 
your  raiment  with  the  scent  of  knowledge ;  what 
you  know,  know  it,  and  be  the  better.     Be  content 


EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.  137 

to  know  little.  Be  content  to  add  to  your  know- 
ledge slowly.  Be  content  to  be  unnoticed  when 
Polysmatter  is  passing  for  a  prodigy,  and  to  hold 
your  peace  when  Polyphloisbos  is  rolling  forth 
cataracts  of  erudition. 

In  our  day,  the  race  of  business  men  who  pass 
through  life  in  stolid  ignorance  of  all  outside  their 
trade,  is  rapidly  passing  away.  But  then  arises 
the  danger  of  a  race  of  Polysmatters.  Men  of 
sense  will,  of  course,  avoid  both  extremes ;  and  in- 
stances abound  on  all  hands,  where  the  most  useful 
habits  of  business  are  admirably  combined  with  an 
extensive  and  a  modest  intelligence.  The  scholar 
must  ever  respect  the  man  who  well  understands 
his  own  calling,  even  though,  to  all  beyond  it,  his 
opportunities  or  his  abilities  have  left  him  a 
stranger.  But  no  man  can  respect  one  who  spoils 
himself  for  his  own  calling  by  affecting  anything 
else.  But  it  is  specially  pleasant  to  see  a  man 
combining  with  the  punctuality,  the  order,  the  self- 
reliance,  the  promptitude,  the  knowledge  of  men, 
the  common  sense,  which  belong  to  your  thorough- 
made  man  of  business,  a  sympathy  with  all  higher 
pursuits,  and  a  becoming  acquaintance  with  the 
history  of  man  and  the  handiwork  of  God. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  ardent  as  was  Mr. 
Budgett's  desire  for  knowledge,  he  never  permitted 
it  to  trench  on  his  proper  engagements.  He 
would  as  much  have  blamed  him  who  permitted  a 
love  of  reading  to  seduce  him  from  his  clear  path 
of  duty,  as  he  would  have  pitied  him  who  had  no 


138  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

relish  for  anything  above  bargains  and  profits. 
What  he  wanted  was  not  to  be  a  scholar;  much 
less  to  put  on  the  air  and  talk  of  a  scholar ;  but  to 
have  some  actual  knowledge  and  some  ennobling 
sentiments  laid  up  within  him,  that  his  mind  might 
feed  and  grow  stronger.  The  annexed  letter, 
written  about  the  close  of  his  apprenticeship,  will 
show  precisely  in  what  spirit  he  coveted  know- 
ledge : — 

"  Kdjgswood  Hill,  August  29,  18]  6. 

"  Mv  Very  Dear  Friend, — Your  affectionate 
letter  I  received  last  week.  After  I  had  dismissed 
the  business  of  the  day,  I  retired  to  my  room,  sat 
down,  and  began  to  think, — How  long  is  it  since 
I  received  Mr.  M.'s  book  of  extracts?  How  long 
since  he  requested  me  to  send  him  a  plan  for  keep- 
ing a  common-place  book  ? — turning  to  my  little 
library,  Why  did  I  place  so  many  books  on  these 
shelves?  &c,  &c.  The  feelings  of  my  mind  on 
that  occasion  I  cannot  describe  to  you ;  I  believe  it 
was  something  like  one  awaking  from  a  dream 
who  ought  to  have  been  on  an  important  journey 
some  hours  before.  I  saw  that  all  my  powers  had 
been  in  a  state  of  dormancy.  I  began  to  reflect  on 
your  past  kindness,  and  considered  that  I  had  not 
even  read  all  your  book,  though  I  intended  copy- 
ing a  great  deal  of  it.  How  plainly  did  I  see,  and 
to  my  Borrow  feel,  the  truth  of  your  observation, 
that  the  mind  when  once  enlightened,  having  lost 
the  love  of  God,  is  in  a  more  inactive  state  than 


EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.         139 

ever.  I  saw  that  my  whole  mind  had  been  swal- 
lowed up  in  business,  to  the  great  neglect  of  my 
spiritual  and  mental  concerns.  I  considered  that  I# 
had  been  but  little  different  for  seven  years;  and 
from  your  letter  I  discovered  that  you  appeared  to 
be  sinking  into  the  same  state.  After  pausing 
some  time,  (for  I  had  no  supper  that  night,  but 
continued  in  my  room,  reasoning  and  endeavouring 
to  think  on  what  had  passed  until  bed-time,)  I 
thought.  What  a  deplorable  state  are  we  in  !  what 
can  be  done  ?  I  determined,  however,  to  do  some- 
thing. I  took  up  my  pen,  and  wrote  down  a  few 
little  things  that  I  had  neglected,  and  resolved  to 
execute  them  in  order,  and  as  fast  as  possible, 
praying  for  the  blessing  of  God  on  my  weak  en- 
deavours. One  Avas  to  comply  with  your  request 
in  getting  Locke's  method  of  keeping  a  common- 
place book ;    secondly,  to  write  to  you  and   Mr. 

T ;    thirdly,   to  finish  reading  your  book  of 

extracts,  and  copy  what  part  I  intended.  Another 
was,  to  get  a  little  book  arranged  after  Locke's 
method,  to  enter  all  the  pieces  I  commit  to  memory, 
that  I  may  have  a  kind  of  index  to  my  mind; 
with  several  little  things  relative  to  the  improve- 
ment of  my  own  mind.  Join  with  me,  my  dear 
friend,  join  with  me  in  praying  that  the  Lord  may 
add  his  blessing  to  my  resolutions,  and  I  believe  we 
shall  soon  see  better  days.  Let  us  look  to  that 
God  who  has  promised,  '  I  will  instruct  thee,  and 
teach  thee  in  the  way  which  thou  shalt  go ;  I  will 
guide  thee  with  mine  eye ;'  '  I  am  the  light  of  the 


140  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

world  ;  he  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  dark- 
ness, hut  shall  have  the  light  of  life.'  Surely  we 
err  in  not  following  him  more  closely ;  perhaps  we 
have  not  thought  highly  enough  of  our  calling. 
Let  us  hegin  to  double  our  diligence,  and  hencefor- 
ward walk  as  children  of  the  light. 

"  Enclosed  you  have  a  small  hook  with  the  index 
to  Locke's  common-place  book  ruled  in  it,  of  which 
I  must  beg  your  acceptance  as  a  small  token  of  my 
love  and  affection  for  you;  for  an  explanation  of 
which,  I  must  refer  you  to  the  third  volume  of  his 
works,  as  the  limit  of  my  room  will  not  allow  me 
to  give  it  sufficiently  clear  to  be  understood.  I 
have  not  written  a  list  of  my  books  yet,  but  hope 
to  do  it  soon,  and  will  send  it  you  in  my  next. 

"As  it  respects  my  coming  to  Frome,  I  thank 
you  for  your  kind  invitation.  I  have  intended 
going;  but  I  assure  you,  when  it  comes  to  the 
point,  I  have  no  inclination  to  go  anywhere ;  for  if 
I  cannot  find  happiness  at  home,  it  is  in  vain  to 
seek  it  anywhere  else.  I  think  if  I  were  to  come 
with  the  determination  to  enjoy  the  company  of  my 
friends  by  going  to  any  places  of  recreation  or 
amusement,  though  I  am  very  fond  of  such  kind 
of  engagements,  particularly  where  religion  and 
real  happiness  is  the  subject  of  conversation,  yet 
it  may  tend  rather  to  divert  my  mind  from  God  as 
the  source  of  my  happiness,  than  unite  it  to  hiin. 
But  for  one  thing  I  have  long  felt  an  earnest, 
though  secret  desire ;  which  is,  to  spend  a  little 
time  with   you   and  Mr.  T alone,  where    qo 


EARLY  TOILS  AND  TROUBLES.  141 

object  but  God  could  attract  our  attention ;  that 
we  may,  by  devout  conversation,  by  humble,  fer- 
vent, faithful  prayer,  get  our  souls  united  to  each 
other  and  to  God,  our  living  Head,  by  the  strongest 
ties  of  love  and  affection.  Pray  for  me,  my  dear 
friend.  I  have  only  one  more  request  to  make, 
that  is,  that  you  will  write  soon,  and  believe  me 
your  most  affectionate  friend,  S.  B." 

But  many  who  have  some  relish  for  reading- 
while  youth  is  warm,  lose  it  all  as  cares  or  riches 
multiply.  Then  they  have  no  leisure  for  a  book, 
and  no  heart  if  they  had  the  leisure.  The  morn- 
ing paper  is  their  Bible,  their  Milton,  their  Rollin, 
their  Bacon,  their  Humboldt,  their  Burke,  their 
Scott,  their  intellectual  all.  And,  perhajis,  that  is 
prized,  not  exactly  because  it  deals  with  knowledge, 
but  because  some  items  of  the  knowledge  affect  the 
pocket.  A  Kafir  raid  and  a  Parisian  revolution  are 
interesting,  not  because  they  display  the  condition 
and  affect  the  happiness  of  mankind,  but  because 
they  tell  upon  stocks.  Ah !  how  some  of  your 
"  hundred  thousanders "  would  be  stunned  by  a 
sentence  condemning  them  to  read  Josephus  or  the 
Diversions  of  Purley  from  end  to  end.  Would  not 
some  of  them  prefer  a  three  days'  panic  upon 
'Change?  Would  not  some  of  them  almost  as 
soon  "promise  to  pay"  the  Spanish  bonds  as  pro- 
mise to  read  through  the  Wellington  despatches  ? 
But,  up  to  the  last,  Mr.  Budgett  evinced  a  vivacious 
zest  for  knowledge.     As  he  began  to  withdraw  from 


142  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

the  more  active  duties  of  business,  lie  plunged  into 
his  library,  and  there,  day  by  day,  spent  happy 
hours  in  studying  geography,  studying  history, 
studying  God's  holy  word.  In  all  these  pursuits 
his  interest  was  intense,  and  proved  that  had  his  lot 
been  cast  otherwise  than  in  business,  his  literary 
tastes  would  have  been  not  less  ardent  than  his 
mercantile.  Hereafter  it  will  be  my  duty  to  furnish 
a  specimen  of  his  daily  time-table,  showing  what  he 
read  and  how  many  hours  he  spent  daily  in  his  study. 

His  knowledge  was  not  mere  jewelry,  worn  as  or- 
nament, but  capital  turned  to  account.  In  his 
apprenticeship  he  became  an  active  Sunday-school 
teach er,  and  in  that  avocation  then  spent  many 
Sabbaths  which  he  always  counted  among  the  hap- 
piest days  of  his  life.  When  he  rose  in  influence 
and  wealth,  he  did  not,  as  so  many  do,  forsake  the 
toilsome  and  humble  school ;  but,  as  we  shall  here- 
after see,  laboured  in  that  sphere  with  heart  and 
success  to  the  last. 

He  was  about  twenty-two  years  of  age  when  his 
apprenticeship  expired.  He  then  made  an  engage- 
ment with  his  brother  for  three  years,  at  a  salary  of 
forty,  fifty,  and  sixty  pounds  respectively.  Here 
then  at  last,  twelve  full  years  from  the  time  when 
he  began  his  trading,  he  was  fairly  started  in  the 
way  of  Earning  a  livelihood  and  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  success.  As  of  wont,  his  economy  was 
strict;  not  one  farthing  that  human  art  could  bind, 
escaped  on  any  errand  for  his  personal  purposes. 
For  those  he  loved  they  were  free  enough  to  go  ; 


EARLY   TOILS   AND  TROUBLES.  143 

but  as  to  himself,  his  attire  was  the  humblest  that 
care  could  make  it,  and  of  luxuries,  all  he  indulged 
in  Mere  a  few  modest  books.  At  the  end  of  the 
three  years,  he  had  full  one  hundred  pounds  saved 
out  of  his  salary.  Here,  then,  he  was  once  more 
in  wealth ;  and  that  to  threefold  the  extent  of  his 
first  fortune  at  Coleford.  That  had  been  procured 
by  trade ;  this  by  the  more  adhesive  process  of 
saving.  What  men  gather  by  little  and  little,  by 
shutting  up  every  outlet  of  self-indulgence,  by  watch- 
ing a  penny  and  weighing  it,  they  are  prone  to 
value  and  to  hold.  Samuel  Budgett,  habituated  as 
he  was  rapidly  to  discern  the  great  in  the  little, 
would  see  in  his  hundred  pounds  the  germ  of  large 
possessions.  But  his  thirty  pounds  had  gone ;  his 
fifteen  shillings  had  gone;  and  now  his  greater 
hoard  was  menaced.  His  brother  had  embarked 
in  a  banking  speculation.  It  had  gone  wrong  ;  and 
though  the  regular  business  was  thriving,  Samuel 
saw  him  in  jeopardy.  He  at  once  begged  him  to 
accept  his  store.  And  thus,  the  third  time,  after 
having  laid  up  the  foundation  of  a  fortune,  he,  at 
the  call  of  family  affection,  "  gave  it  all  away." 

He  had  now  been  fifteen  years  in  trade ;  five  as 
an  amateur,  seven  as  an  apprentice,  and  three  as  a 
salaried  assistant.  Yet  he  was  no  richer  than  when 
the  blacksmith  gave  into  his  hand  his  first  penny. 
The  most  successful  do  not  succeed  at  once.  But 
if  he  had  no  store  of  money,  he  had  gained  and 
permanently  secured  the  habit  of  making,  the  habit 
of  saving,  and  the  habit  of  giving.     These  three 


144  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MEKCHANT. 

habits  accorded  with  all  his  own  purposes,  and  ex- 
pressed the  sense  of  a  motto  which  he  early  adopted 
and  resolutely  held.  John  Wesley,  in  his  powerful 
sermon  on  the  use  of  money,  lays  down  these  three 
rules — Make  all  you  can ;  save  all  you  can ;  give 
all  you  can.  Samuel  Budgett's  natural  dispositions, 
early  habits,  and  intentions  for  life,  all  prepared  him 
to  accept  these  principles.  To  make,  to  save,  to 
give,  he  set  himself.  To  make  without  saving,  is 
useless  and  absurd.  To  save  without  giving,  is 
covetousness  and  idolatry.  To  make  and  then  save, 
is  wise.  To  save  and  then  give,  is  Christian.  Samuel 
had  now  well  habituated  himself  to  all  these  three 
habits.  He  maintained  them  to  the  last.  Their 
acquisition  in  his  youth  was  more  to  him  than  if 
he  had  started  with  ten  thousand  pounds. 

We  have  already  said  that  the  business  was  pros- 
pering ;  and  Samuel's  industry  was  now  rewarded 
by  being  taken  into  partnership.  Soon  after  he 
took  a  little  cottage  in  a  lane  opposite  the  shop. 
He  had  very  early  formed  an  attachment  to  Miss 
Smith,  a  young  lady  of  respectable  family,  at  Mid- 
somer  Norton.  But  he  waited  for  the  time  when 
Providence  should  place  him  in  circumstances  to 
offer  a  home  to  a  wife.  Up  to  that  day  he  would 
say  no  word  of  what  had  long  been  in  his  heart. 
That  day  came  at  last.  He  believed  that  the  good 
hand  of  Providence  had  marked  the  moment  when 
he  might  properly  make  himself  a  home.  After 
the  struggles  of  his  youth  he  found  himself  blessed. 
with  a  happy  fireside  and  a  cheerful  prospect  in  trade. 


RISE    AND   PROGRESS.  145 


CHAPTER    V. 
RISE    AND     PROGR  ESS. 

"  Business  is  what  it  is  made  to  be." 

Of  the  many  proverbs  which  Mr.  Budgett  familiarly 
used,  none  was  firmer  set  in  his  convictions  than 
that  which  stands  above.  He  would  have  it  that  a 
business  was  limited  only  by  the  energy  of  its  con- 
ductors. Obstacles  of  time,  situation,  poverty,  and 
competition  were,  he  insisted,  all  capable  of  being 
overcome.  He  would  contend  that  every  first-rate 
man  of  business  could  create  a  first-rate  business. 
This  may  be  perfectly  true ;  and  yet  it  does  not 
follow  that  every  man  can  create  a  first-rate  busi- 
ness, just  because  every  man  is  not  a  first-rate  man. 
It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  because  a  man  has 
failed  of  rising  to  wealth  therefore  he  has  not  done 
his  best.  He  may  or  he  may  not.  But  if  he  be 
only  a  man  of  limited  resources,  great  achievements 
are  not  to  be  expected  from  him.  Men  who  have  an 
energy  before  which  obstacles  appear  to  vanish,  and 
an  address  to  which  no  embarrassment  is  inextri- 
cable, are.  often  in  danger  of  forgetting  that  feebler 
men  cannot  effect  what  they  have  effected.  It  is 
perfectly  true  that  business  is  what  it  is  made  to 
be ;  but  that  very  thing,  so  far  from  proving  that 

every  man  may  have  a  flourishing  business,  only 

10 


146  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

proves  that  every  incompetent  man  is  sure  to  be 
always  low.  A  book,  as  well  as  a  business,  is  what 
it  is  made  to  be ;  but  some  of  us  know  full  well 
that  when  we  have  diligently  done  our  endeavour, 
we  cannot  make  a  first-rate  book.  Even  so,  in 
business,  many  there  are  who  cannot  rise,  many 
who  cannot  help  descending,  many  who  of  necessity 
fall,  many  who  may  earn  their  bread  while  others 
direct  but  who  only  waste  it  when  once  the  direc- 
tion is  in  their  own  hands.  "  Every  man  in  his 
own  order."  He  that  made  us  has  not  made  us 
equal.  Some  have  powers  that  will  accomplish 
anything  :  let  them  be  thankful ;  they  must  give 
account.  Some  have  powers  before  which  diffi- 
culties enlarge,  and  opportunities  vanish :  let  them 
recognise  their  weakness,  be  humble,  take  advice, 
and  find  a  sphere  suitable  to  their  actual  capabili- 
ties. But,  though  all  cannot  gain  eminence,  every 
honest,  frugal,  and  hard-working  man  will  make  his 
way. 

Mr.  Budgett  was  naturally  fitted  for  an  enlarged 
commerce.  The  same  impulse  which  in  childhood 
had  set  him  upon  trading,  urged  him  in  manhood 
to  extend  and  rise.  While  still  in  his  brother's  em- 
ployment, he  suggested  new  plans  of  conducting 
the  purchases,  and  took  that  department,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  into  his  own  hands.  The  markets 
were  well  watched,  every  advantage  of  time  or 
change  turned  to  account,  and  his  singular  power 
of  cheap  buying  exerted  with  all  vigour.  The  trade 
steadily  grew  ;  every  now  and  then  those  in  their 


RISE    AND   PROGRESS.  U7 

own  line  were  surprised  at  the  sales  they  were  able 
to  make,  and  the  neighbourhood  resounded  with 
the  news  of  the  great  bargains  to  be  had  at  Bud- 
get's.    As  custom  increased  so  did  envy  and  ac- 
cusation.    Many  scrupled  not  to  declare  that  they 
sold  cheaper  than  they  bought,  and  therefore  must 
soon  come  to  an  end.     Yet  they  went  on,  year  by 
year,  in  steady  and  rapid  increase.     I  am  not,  how- 
ever,  prepared  to  say,  that  the  expedient  called  in 
trade    "leading  articles"  was  not   sometimes   re- 
sorted to.    Leading  articles  in  commerce,  like  leading 
articles  in  journalism,  are  articles  set  forth  in  a  more 
prominent  manner  than  others,  and  meant  to  make 
a  character  for  the  whole.     A  man  takes  a  certain 
article  and  sells  it  at  cost  price,  or  below  cost  price, 
to  give  the  public  an  impression  that  his  goods  are 
surpassingly  cheap ;  meaning  to  make  up  what  he 
loses  on  that  article  by  the  sale  of  others.     In  the 
retail  grocery  trade,  almost  every  man  sells  sugar  in 
this  way,  without  profit,  or  even  sometimes  at  a 
slender  loss.     It  is  impossible  to  say  that  a  man  is 
bound  to  charge  a  profit  on  every  particular  article 
in  his  shop,     xlnd  Mr.  Budgett,  being  persuaded 
that  he  could  on  the  whole  "do  better"  for  his 
customers  than  others,  thought  it  was  perfectly  fair 
to  gain  their  attention  to  that  which  would  be  to 
their  benefit  by  means  which  did  not  involve  any 
wrong.     This  would  be  perfectly  satisfactory  if  the 
only  parties  concerned  were  the  individual  trader 
and  the  customer.     It  is  altogether  a  different  case 
from  that  of  the  unquestionable  sharper,  who  offers 


148  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

a  few  .articles  at  tempting  prices  that  lie  may  catch 
unwary  folks  and  fleece  them  by  sales  of  poor  goods 
at  great  profits.  This  man  cheats  even  his  customer, 
and  deceives  him  too ;  for  he  makes  the  impression 
that  he  is  going  to  sell  cheaper  than  others,  where- 
as in  fact  he  means  to  charge  more.  When  a  man 
really  means  to  serve  the  customer  better  than  he 
believes  him  to  be  served  elsewhere,  it  is  easy  to 
see  how  he  might  be  strong  in  a  conviction  of  his 
own  integrity,  while  he  offered  one  article  at  an  in- 
viting price ;  but  he  ought  to  bethink  him  that  he 
and  the  customer  are  not  the  only  parties  affected 
by  the  transaction.  There  is  some  other  dealer  from 
whom  that  customer  is  turned.  If  a  man  feels  that 
he  can  serve  the  public  with  a  certain  article  better 
than  they  are  usually  served,  he  is  right  to  do  so. 
But  he  ought  only  to  take  such  modes  of  attracting 
the  attention  of  the  public  as  arise  out  of  the  actual 
advantages  he  has  to  offer.  He  is  not  bound  to 
withhold  a  general  advantage  because  it  may  cause 
an  individual  loss, — quite  the  contrary :  but  he 
ought  not  to  parade  any  advantage  that  is  not  real, 
to  create  any  impression  that  is  not  correct ;  to  hold 
out  the  bait  of  one  kind  of  service,  while  he  means 
to  perform  another.  The  Messrs.  Budgett,  I  fully 
believe,  were  convinced  that  in  this  point  they 
allowed  only  what  was  quite  defensible  ;  and,  so  far 
as  their  customers  were  concerned,  I  am  persuaded 
that  to  them  no  wrong  was  done ;  but  as  a  mode 
of  competition,  the  system  of  leading  articles  is  de- 
cidedly to  be  condemned  in  itself,  and  especially  so 


RISE    AND   PROGRESS.  149 

as  it  offers  to  dishonest  men  a  bait  whereby  to  en- 
trap prey.  Your  duty  as  tradesmen  is  so  to  frame 
your  method  of  business  that  it  shall  serve  the 
interests  of  the  public  in  the  highest  possible  de- 
gree ;  and  then,  as  to  gaining  the  public  eye,  why, 
trust  to  sterling  industry,  to  the  intrinsic  excellence 
of  your  system,  and  above  all  to  the  blessing  of 
Providence  for  as  much  "  custom "  as  will  suffice 
for  your  legitimate  ends.  In  competing  with  others 
for  public  favour,  no  expedient  should  be  permitted 
that  will  not  bear  close  examination.  Better  fail  of 
success,  than  fall  into  improper  rivalry.  Many  of 
the  rumours  which  were  circulated  about  the  Messrs. 
Budgett  with  regard  to  the  practice  of  selling  under 
cost,  were  absurd,  and  contradicted  themselves. 
If  people  dealt  constantly  on  that  scale,  they  must 
sometime  show  the  effect. 

As  the  business  grew,  the  views  of  the  younger 
brother  began  to  stretch  beyond  their  existing 
sphere.  He  already  seemed  to  descry  in  the  dis- 
tance the  possibility  of  a  great  wholesale  establish- 
ment ;  but  this  must  be  reached  by  little  and  little. 
He  would  not  attempt  what  he  could  not  accom- 
plish. Any  sudden  bound,  therefore,  by  which  he 
was  at  once  to  pass  the  gulf  now  separating  him 
from  his  object,  was  not  to  be  thought  of.  A  little 
at  a  time ;  secure  what  you  have,  work  it  well,  make 
it  fruitful,  and  then  push  on  a  little  farther ;  but 
never  stretch  out  to  anything  new  till  all  the  old  is 
perfectly  cultivated.  Such  were  the  maxims  he  laid 
down  for  himself;  such  the  maxims  which  he  en- 


150  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

forced  upon  his  travellers.  Under  the  guidance  of 
these  rules  his  progress  from  the  retail  shop  up  to 
the  great  establishment,  was  not  to  he  made  by 
brilliant  strokes,  and  venturesome  speculations,  and 
heavy  credits,  and  reliance  on  the  exchequer  of 
others.  He  was  willing  to  begin  humbly  and  to 
proceed  slowly,  that  he  might  proceed  in  surety. 

Among  the  customers  of  the  shop  were  numbers 
of  good  women  who  came  from  villages  at  a  few 
miles'  distance,  mounted  on  donkeys.  As  the  flow 
of  purchasers  was  great,  a  crowd  of  these  patient 
steeds  would  often  be  for  a  long  time  about  the 
door,  while  their  respective  mistresses  were  obtain- 
ing goods.  In  this  concourse  from  a  distance,  the 
quick  eye  of  Samuel  discovered  the  germ  of  an  ex- 
tended trade.  Why  should  he  not  go  into  their 
neighbourhood  regularly,  and  obtain  their  orders ; 
so  securing  their  custom  always  and  affording  them 
accommodation,  while  he  obtained  new  chances  of 
extension?  His  brother  was  much  more  inclined 
to  pursue  the  regular  course  than  to  branch  into  any- 
thing new ;  and  the  caution  of  the  one  probably 
acted  as  a  useful  counterbalance  to  the  energy  of 
the  other.  But  Samuel  was  not  to  be  held  within 
the  shop  walls ;  he  had  his  plans  for  erecting  a 
great  business,  and  no  power  could  restrain  him. 
He  soon  set  forth  to  the  villages  of  Doynton  and 
Pucklechurch,  and  arranged  to  meet  the  good  folks 
at  fixed  times,  in  one  house  or  another  convenient 
for  them,  and  there  to  receive  their  orders.  He 
made  himself  their  friend,  he  was  hearty,  familiar, 


RISE    AND   PROGRESS.  151 

and  in  earnest,  he  noticed  their  children,  he  knew 
their  ways,  and  he  rapidly  gained  their  favour  and 
effected  considerable  sales. 

This  point  gained,  he  began  to  talk  of  supplying 
the  smaller  shops.  "  Why  should  not  we  supply 
them,  as  well  as  other  people?"  His  brother 
shrank  from  anything  that  seemed  to  approach  the 
wholesale.  He  feared  that  they  would  get  beyond 
their  means,  and  wished  to  pursue  only  the  old 
course.  Samuel  could  wait,  but  he  could  not  sur- 
render. Supply  the  smaller  shops  he  would,  and 
by  degrees  he  managed  to  accomplish  it.  Very 
gradually  the  range  of  this  quasi-wholesale  trade 
extended.  Firmly  keeping  to  his  purpose  of  working 
all  he  had  got  and  going  on  little  by  little,  he  made 
no  abrupt  enterprise,  no  great  dash  ;  but  on,  on  he 
plodded  in  the  humblest  way,  caring  nothing  for 
show,  but  careful  that  every  foot  of  ground  under 
him  was  solid.  He  gradually  began  to  make  a 
modest  sort  of  commercial  journey ;  and  among 
tradesmen  to  whom  he  Avould  not  venture  to  offer 
the  higher  articles  of  grocery,  raised  a  considerable 
trade  in  such  descriptions  of  goods  as  he  might  sup- 
ply without  seeming  to  push  into  too  important  a 
sphere. 

Well  would  it  be  for  our  modern  tradesmen  did 
they  generally  seek  advancement  only  on  such  sure 
grounds.  But  instead  of  patiently  waiting  to  work 
their  way  up  from  an  inconsiderable  to  a  respect- 
able position,  they  are  eager  to  start  on  a  large 
scale,  to  make  a  show,  and  to  rival  their  neigh- 


152  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

hours.  The  consequence  is  an  untold  amount  of 
unhappiness,  ill-health,  and  sin.  Many  a  man  who 
is  gasping  for  life  in  trade,  might  have  been  press- 
ing on  at  his  ease ;  many  a  one  who  is  trying  to 
keep  his  head  above  water  by  seizing  any  friend 
within  reach,  might  have  been  swimming  cheerily ; 
many  a  one  who  is  quailing  before  his  creditors, 
might  have  them  bowing  attendance  upon  him ; 
many  a  one  who  is  breaking  the  hearts  of  his  family, 
might  have  been  their  delight, — had  he  only  been 
content  to  adjust  his  scale  of  business  to  his  amount 
of  capital.  But  when  a  man  is  too  proud  to  suit 
his  establishment  to  his  means,  he  must  take  the 
consequence.  If  you  build  half  of  your  house  on 
your  neighbour's  ground,  it  is  no  great  wonder  if  it 
should  be  pulled  down.  I  know  one  eminently 
successful  tradesman  who  ascribes  all  his  prosperity 
to  the  fact  that  when,  at  an  early  stage  of  his 
course,  he  found  that  he  had  taken  on  hand  mure 
business  than  he  could  manage  with  his  capital, 
and  embarrassment  was  imminent  merely  from  the 
rapid  extension  of  his  trade,  he  had  the  courage  to 
curtail,  and  decline  all  business  which  he  could 
not  safely  manage.  This  appeared  to  throw  him 
back  for  the  time,  but  from  that  day  his  feet  were 
firm  under  him  and  his  future  progress  was  solid. 

Half  of  the  heavy  hearts  and  broken  spirits  and 
sleepless  eyes  among  London  tradesmen  might  be 
spared,  were  they  only  willing  to  conform  their  ap- 
pearances to  their  substance.  But  to  many  that 
simple  advice  would  sound  as  the  perfection  of  se- 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS.  153 

verity.  As  men  of  fashion  enlarge  their  establish- 
ments in  rivalry  with  wealthier  neighbours,  and 
thus  make  themselves  miserable  for  the  sake  of 
show ;  so  men  of  business  enlarge  their  establish- 
ments to  rival  older  and  wealthier  neighbours,  and 
they  too  purchase  show  at  the  price  of  misery.  Be 
admonished  of  one  thing, — among  all  articles  upon 
earth  show  is  the  most  costly.  You  think  the  public 
will  pay  for  your  show ;  but  be  assured  if  you  keep 
up  a  show  you  will  pay  for  it  yourself,  and  that  with 
sighs,  broken  sleep,  indigestion,  bile,  headache,  irri- 
tability, with  blushes  before  your  friends  when  you 
ask  for  "  a  little  help,"  with  confusion  before  your 
creditors  when  you  ask  for  "a  little  time;"  ay, 
probably  you  will  pay  for  it  with  the  loss  of  respect 
before  those  in  your  employment,  with  the  loss  of 
credit,  the  loss  of  domestic  comfort,  the  loss  of  prin- 
ciple, with  the  crash  and  shattering  of  all  your 
hopes  in  the  noontide  of  life.  Do  then  fit  yourself 
into  the  niche  which  Providence  has  prepared  for 
you.  Adapt  your  show  to  your  substance,  your 
surface  to  your  groundwork.  Have  a  small  busi- 
ness and  a  calm  breast,  rather  than  a  great  business 
and  weariness  of  heart.  Begin  lowly,  rise  slowlv, 
lay  out  nothing  for  show,  be  houest,  and  fear  God, 
and  you  will  not  fail.  Perhaps,  when  the  man  who 
started  at  the  same  time  and  quite  eclipsed  you  is 
coming  down  with  a  crash,  you  will  be  emerging 
from  your  obscurity.  But  should  you  never  emerge, 
better  ten  thousand  times  to  be  all  your  life  on  good 
terms  with  your  circumstances,  than  to  be  perpetu- 


154  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

ally  at  strife  with  them.  Of  all  quarrels,  the  most 
senseless,  the  most  bootless,  the  most  worrying,  is  a 
quarrel  with  your  circumstances.  You  may  as  well 
be  wise  at  once  and  make  peace  with  them.  Poor 
circumstances  are  like  poor  relations :  if  you  try  to 
deny  them  they  will  humble  you;  if  you  take  to 
them  kindly  you  will  raise  them.  "  Circumstances  " 
is  but  a  name  for  the  lot  which  Providence  has  as- 
signed you :  and  if  your  heart  be  right  with  God, 
you  will  cheerfully  believe  that  you  are  rightly  and 
wisely  placed,  and  will  be  content  that  the  allotment 
of  the  Divine  hand  should  be  known. 

"  But  so  much  depends  upon  a  respectable  com- 
mencement." Ah,  the  thousands  of  burdened 
minds  which  are  wearying  and  groaning  under  the, 
loads  first  imposed  by  that  fair  pretence !  Among 
the  gods  of  the  world,  Respectability  is  a  great  fa- 
vourite. He  competes  with  Mammon.  He  is  not 
so  coarse ;  his  worship  has  more  of  grace  to  win  the 
eye.  His  worshippers  abound  on  every  hand;  yes, 
and  he  even  sits  proudly  in  the  temple  of  God,  re- 
ceiving for  his  sole  honour  the  obeisance  of  many  a 
brilliant  plume,  of  many  a  perfumed  head,  which 
bow  there  at  another  name  it  is  brue,  but  which 
come  there  at  no  call  but  his,  and  which  seek  there 
no  blessing  but  his  approval.  He  is  a  fair-&ced, 
well-robed,  goodly  idol,  with  winning  mien  and  im- 
posing adornments ;  his  presence  is  graced  with  all 
that  is  ancient,  all  that  is  brilliant,  all  that  kings 
bestow  and  princes  covet ;  with  beauty  and  wealth, 
with  valour  and  genius.     Prosperity  seems  to  dwell 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS.  155 

ill  his  temple,  and  peace  to  dwell  at  her  side.  But 
he  is  a  cruel,  greedy  idol,  like  all  other  idols.  Those 
brilliant  devotees  worship  in  chains ;  and,  day  by 
day,  broken  fortunes,  broken  families,  broken  promi- 
ses, broken  characters,  broken  hearts,  are  heaped  in 
hecatombs  upon  his  altar,  albeit  the  blind  idolaters 
say  that  these  offerings  are  welcomed  only  by  his 
ill-favoured  neighbour,  Misfortune. 

Tradesmen,  as  a  class,  are  as  desperately  addicted 
to  the  worship  of  respectability  as  young  ladies. 
To  place  themselves  under  his  tutelage,  they  will 
depart  from  that  humility  and  honesty  without 
which  they  cannot  hope  for  the  care  of  God.  But, 
as  to  the  care  of  God,  they  think  it  very  good  in- 
deed if  it  could  be  had  upon  their  own  terms ;  but 
to  come  down  to  their  circumstances,  and  only  at- 
tempt such  an  amount  of  trade  as  their  capital  can 
match — that  would  be  humiliating,  and  they  want 
to  be  respectable.  Very  well,  then,  be  respectable, 
and  be  in  torment.  But  rely  upon  it,  that  if,  with 
a  capital  of  five  hundred  pounds,  you  undertake  a 
trade  requiring  a  thousand,  you  are  not  to  expect 
that  a  Providence  who  is  wise  and  just,  who  loves 
candour,  humility,  and  straightforwardness,  who 
hates  pride,  show,  and  every  deceit,  will  ease  you  of 
the  load  which  you  take  upon  yourself  despite  of  his 
counsel.  Your  respectable  commencement,  indeed  ! 
That  is  respectable  which  is  honest  and  sensible. 
The  reason  why  so  many  are  no  better  after  years 
of  toil  is  that  they  begin  too  high.  Had  Samuel 
Budgett  resolved  that  he  would  not  compromise  his 


156  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

respectability,  but  would  at  once  sally  into  Batb  and 
Bristol  as  a  wholesale  merchant,  instead  of  going  to 
Doynton  and  PucMechurch  and  humbly  working 
on,  going  just  a  step  at  a  time  and  guarding  it  well 
when  gained,  in  that  case  he  woidd  never  have 
looked  upon  the  results  he  lived  to  see.  He  began 
where  he  ought  to  begin,  he  ended  where  he  hoped 
to  end.  He  went  first  to  Doynton  and  Puckle- 
church,  and  in  due  time  to  Bath  and  Bristol.  But 
many  of  you  are  resolved  to  begin  at  Bath  and 
Bristol ;  then  most  probably  you  will  end  at  Doyn- 
ton and  PucMechurch.  The  same  good  advice  has 
been  given  by  so  many  that  one  has  little  heart  m 
repeating  it ;  but  be  assured,  my  young  friend,  that 
it  is  not  from  indifference  to  your  feelings,  but  from 
real  interest  in  your  happiness,  that  we  advise  you 
to  begin  at  Doynton  and  Pucklechurch. 

In  process  of  time  success  invited  bolder  efforts. 
They  resolved  to  venture  on  offering  sugar  and  teas 
to  the  respectable  grocers  in  the  important  towns. 
About  this  time  they  had  succeeded  in  making  a 
large  purchase  of  butter  remarkably  cheap,  and  im- 
mediately after,  it  rose.  Samuel  therefore  felt  that 
in  this  article  they  had  an  advantage,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  try  his  fortune  in  a  higher  sphere.  He 
rode  to  Frome  and  applied  for  orders  at  the  chief 
shops  of  the  town.  His  reception  would  have 
daunted  an  ordinary  man.  They  were  much  af- 
fronted that  a  shopkeeper  from  an  out-ofthe-way 
village  like  Kingswood  should  offer  to  supply  them 
wholesale,  indeed!     They  said  very  uncivil  things. 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS.  15 1 

They  told  him  very  plainly  that  they  could  buy 
quite  as  well  as  he  could.  One  man,  after  hearing 
him  open  his  commission,  said,  "  Well,  young  man, 
and  where  do  you  come  from  2" 

"  Kingswood." 

"  Kingswood !  I  dare  say  you  are  very  zealous, 
but  you  had  better  go  back  to  Kingswood  and  mind 
your  shop.  I  dare  say  you  can  earn  bread  and 
cheese  there,  but  you  had  better  not  try  to  sell  us 
goods  at  Frome." 

Another  gave  him  a  less  courteous  welcome  still, 
and  almost  ordered  him  out  of  the  shop.  Before 
facing  these  grocery  magnates,  his  heart  had  sunk 
and  sunk  again ;  and  in  entering  their  shops  he  was 
almost  overcome  with  trepidation.  But  he  only 
wanted  this  rough  usage  to  bring  all  his  energies 
into  play.  His  spirit  gradually  rose ;  at  last  he  said, 
"  Well,  I  am  come  here  to  do  business  and  I  will 
do  it.  If  I  cannot  do  it  with  you,  I  will  with  others. 
I  have  tried  the  respectable  shops,  and  you  won't 
look  at  me;  I  will  see  what  they  will  say  in  the 
little  shops  which  you  supply,  and  you  shall  see 
whether  I  can  serve  them  to  advantage  or  not." 
This  was  not  without  its  effect.  The  good  man, 
who  probably,  in  spite  of  his  dignity,  had  been  struck 
with  the  prices  at  which  some  of  the  goods  were 
offered,  said  :  "  Well,  let  me  see,  what  are  you  doing 
those  butters  at  2"  And  then  he  ordered  ten  casks. 
The  traveller  took  out  his  order-book,  placed  it  on 
the  counter  with  great  importance,  entered  the 
order,  restored  the  book  to  his  pocket,  buttoned  his 


158  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

coat  over  the  record  of  his  victory,  and  marched  out 
of  the  door  triumphant  as  a  plenipotentiary  who  has 
obtained  the  cession  of  a  province.  He  had  scarcely 
gone  when  his  new  friend  called  him  hack. 

"I  think  I  will  have  five  more  casks  of  those 
butters." 

"  No ;  I  have  taken  the  order  and  crossed  your 
threshold,  and  I  do  not  alter  the  order  after  it  is 
taken."  Thus  showing  his  independence  he  marched 
forth  ao-ain. 

That  day  the  battle  for  a  real  wholesale  trade  was 
begun  and  one  advantage  gained.  But  he  saw  that 
he  must  yet  hope  for  his  chief  customers  among  the 
small  dealers,  Avho  were  overlooked  by  the  whole- 
sale houses  and  obtained  supplies  from  their  neigh- 
bours, who,  though  retail  dealers,  were  so  on  an 
extensive  scale.  Accordingly,  whenever  the  larger 
shops  refused  him,  he  addressed  himself  to  the  minor 
ones,  and  would  take  any  order  however  small.  A 
regular  monthly  journey  was  organized.  On  his 
next  return  to  Frome  he  did  not  pass  one  of  the 
men  who  had  handled  him  so  roughly.  He  did 
not  try  to  coax  and  jest  them  into  dealing  with 
him ;  but  in  a  straightforward  independent  way 
told  them  his  prices  and  showed  how  it  would  be 
to  their  advantage.  By  degrees  he  made  his  way. 
When  he  had  got  one  customer  in  a  place  he  would 
pay  comparatively  little  attention  to  others.  Some- 
times he  would  just  call,  quote  his  prices,  leave  a 
sample,  and  pass  on  as  if  his  time  was  too  valuable 
to  spend  upon  them.     In  other  cases  he  would  not. 


EISE  AND  PROGRESS.  159 

call  at  all ;  and  I  have  been  told  of  one  case  in 
Trowbridge  where  a  respectable  tradesman,  seeing 
the  attention  he  paid  to  his  sole  customer  in  tho 
town,  told  him  to  ask  Mr.  Budgett  to  call  upon  him. 
In  other  cases,  again,  his  heart  would  be  set  upon  a 
certain  shop,  and  there  he  would  resolve  to  make 
an  entrance  however  long  he  might  persevere.  But 
once  he  had  gained  a  customer  in  a  place,  that  man 
had  his  first  attention.  He  was  not  near  so  anxious 
to  gain  new  customers  as  to  serve  the  one  gained  so 
that  he  would  really  find  it  to  his  interest  to  deal 
with  them  constantly.  His  travellers,  in  training 
whom  he  took  great  pains,  always  had  this  im- 
pressed upon  them  as  their  prime  lesson,  "  Gain  a 
little  at  a  time,  and  take  care  of  what  you  have  got." 
Every  new  customer  he  represented  as  a  cottage. 
What  was  the  use,  he  would  say,  of  running  away 
after  something  new  and  neglecting  the  cottage  you 
had  ?  Attend  to  it,  see  that  it  is  not  neglected,  that 
it  does  not  go  to  decay ;  and  when  you  have  it  in  a 
thoroughly  good  condition   you   may  get   another 

cottage  if  you  can.     "O,  Mr.  ,  yon  say  you 

have  some  new  customers  this  journey." 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  How  many  ?" 

"  Four." 

"  Four ;  ah !  very  well,  very  well ;  but  are  you 
sure  you  don't  neglect  the  old  ?  Take  care  of  that, 
you  must  mind  what  you  have  got." 

It  soon  proved  that  not  a  few  of  his  customers 
who  had  been  small  and  inconsiderable  rose  swiftly. 


160  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

The  energy  of  the  new  house  at  Kingswood  seemed 
to  some  extent  to  pervade  its  connexion.  In  many 
places,  the  respectable  shopkeepers,  who  at  first 
rejected  their  overtures,  saw  humbler  neighbours 
prospering,  and  followed  in  their  train.  Some  of 
the  very  men  who  had  shown  the  least  civility 
were  afterwards  valuable  and  faithful  customers. 
The  tide  of  prosperity  set  in  fairly;  and  Bristol 
merchants,  who  had  looked  at  the  little  shop  on 
Kingswood  Hill  a  few  years  before  without  one 
anticipation  but  that  of  a  moderate  custom  from  its 
owners,  now  saw  it  expand  to  dimensions  that 
threatened  to  dwarf  themselves. 

Such  an  unheard-of  success  would  naturally 
awaken  much  wonder  and  much  enmity.  To  old 
wholesale  houses  it  was  offensive  to  see  a  shop- 
keeper from  Kingswood,  of  all  places,  enter  their 
walks,  and  attempt  to  measure  himself  with  them. 
That  violent  opposition,  that  rancours  and  rumours 
assailed  the  new  firm,  no  one  will  wonder.  It  is 
not  to  be  doubted  that  the  rancours  were  rendered 
fiercer,  and  the  injurious  rumours  more  credible,  by 
the  exceeding  keenness  in  trade  referred  to  at  length 
in  a  former  chapter.  But  in  spite  of  opposition,  in 
spite  of  rumours,  in  spite  of  combinations  to  destroy 
their  credit,  in  spite  of  predicted  failure  and  lavish- 
ed accusations,  in  spite  of  the  unfavourable  lo- 
cality, of  the  utter  want  of  prestige,  in  spite  of  the 
active  rivalry  of  old  wealthy  houses  in  a  great  city, 
this  new,  anomalous  establishment  gathered  and 
orew ;   the  retail  business  absorbing  the  trade  of 


RISE   AND   PROGRESS.  161 

Kingswood,  the  wholesale  business  gaining  clients 
from  all  the  neighbouring  districts.  Mr.  Budgett 
soon  ceased  to  make  regular  journeys.  First  one 
traveller  took  his  place,  and  then  another  anus 
added.  The  connexion  rapidly  extended :  pur- 
chases which  had  been  in  parcels  soon  rose  to 
cargoes;  sales  which  had  been  in  trifles  swelled 
to  tons ;  traveller  was  added  to  traveller,  journey  to 
journey,  till  the  connexion  covered  the  country 
from  Penzance  to  Birmingham,  from  Haverford- 
west to  Wiltshire.  The  aspect  of  things  at  "  the 
Hill "  changed ;  men  multiplied,  horses  multiplied, 
the  premises  grew.  From  the  port  at  Bristol 
wagons  were  constantly  rolling  with  goods  for  the 
warehouse ;  from  the  warehouse,  wagons  were  con- 
stantly rolling  with  goods  to  the  port  at  Bristol. 
Neat  houses  for  the  clerks  sprang  up,  and  an  air 
of  prosperous  activity  overspread  the  neighbour- 
hood. 

This  rise  was  probably  as  rapid  as  any  that  ever 
occurred  under  analogous  circumstances.  There 
was  no  new  invention,  no  introduction  of  a  strange 
article,  no  caoutchouc,  no  Morison's  pills,  no  gutta 
percha,  no  rails.  It  was  a  plain  homely  business 
expanded ;  and  that  not  in  a  great  city,  where  a 
commanding  centre  was  offered,  but  in  a  village 
noted  for  its  rudeness,  and  so  situated  that  nearly 
all  the  goods  had  to  be  carried  four  miles  from  the 
market  to  the  store,  and  carried  back  again  four 
miles  from  the  store  to  the  wharf  or  the  earner. 
In  fact,  they  had  no  one  advantage,  no  one  facility, 

11 


162  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

and  had  against  them  every  possible  obstacle.    Yet 
they  went  on. 

But  this  progress  was  not  unaccompanied  by 
struggles.  They  had  not  at  the  first  a  large 
capital.  Notwithstanding  all  their  caution  to  se- 
cure their  ground  under  them,  the  business  had 
grown  almost  more  rapidly  than  they  could  manage. 
Many  of  the  men  from  whom  they  purchased  were 
jealous  of  their  progress.  Not  a  few  efforts  were 
made  to  bring  them  to  a  stand.  Sometimes  it 
went  hard  with  them.  On  one  occasion  an  ac- 
count from  Bristol  was'  sent  in  before  the  usual 
time.  It  was  at  once  paid.  Then  another,  then 
another,  and  so  on  with  rapidity;  every  account 
came  in  as  if  by  concert.  Mr.  Budgett  saw  that 
something  was  the  matter,  and  resolved  that,  al- 
though irregular,  all  should  be  met.  He  made 
those  prompt  exertions  among  his  friends  which 
only  men  of  his  energy  can  make.  When  the  last 
account  was  presented  he  knew  there  were  no 
effects  in  the  bank,  but  he  knew  that  he  had 
means  to  put  in  a  deposit;  he  therefore  gave  a 
check,  and  soon  afterwards  mounted  his  horse, 
and  rode  hard.  As  he  entered  the  bank  at  one 
door  the  bearer  of  the  check  entered  at  another,  for 
he  too  had  evidently  been  in  haste  as  if  under  the 
impvession  that  payment  was  doubtful.  The  battle 
was  won;  the  terrible  answer,  "No  effects,"  had 
not  been  returned ;  and  now  they  were  free  to  bless 
that  Providence  which  had  enabled  them  to  turn 
this  sudden  attack  to  a  victory. 


RISE   AND   PBOCrBESS.  163 

But  now  that  the  danger  was  past,  it  became 
necessary  to  ask  how  it  had  arisen.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  some  common  impulse  must  have  led  to 
this  run  upon  them.  Mr.  Budgett  was  resolved  to 
reach  the  source  of  the  assault.  Going  to  a  re- 
spectable firm  which  had  sent  in  an  account  before 
the  regular  time,  he  demanded  the  reason,  and 
would  have  his  reply.  They  acknowledged  that  a 
man  who  had  lately  belonged  to  his  own  establish- 
ment had  warned  them  to  look  after  their  account, 
for  things  were  going  wrong.  It  proved  that  the 
same  individual  had  carried  this  statement  round 
all  the  houses  from  which  they  were  in  the  habit 
of  making  purchases.  He  had  just  been  dis- 
charged, and  this  was  his  remedy.  They  com- 
pelled him  to  make  a  public  apology.  This  was 
not  the  only  time  a  similar  plot  was  directed 
against  them,  and  at  least  a  second  time  they  re- 
quired a  public  apology  from  one  who  had  thus 
attempted  to  undermine  them.  You  must  not  for- 
get the  case  detailed  above,  as  that  man  will  appear 
in  our  pages  again. 

The  day  of  embarrassment  is  the  tradesman's 
day  of  proof.  Then  what  is  in  a  man  shows  itself. 
It  is  the  day  of  temptation,  too ;  a  thousand  new 
impulses  to  do  wrong  arise  and  push  with  giant 
power.  Directly  above  the  great  cataract  of  in- 
solvency he  most  dangerous  rapids.  Once  there, 
the  tide  hurrying  him  towards  ruin,  and  the  fall 
close  by, — resounding  as  with  the  powers  of  de- 
struction in  his  ears, — the  tradesman's  conscience 


164  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

runs  imminent  risk  of  bewilderment.  Many  who 
have  not  lied  before,  begin  to  lie  then.  Many  who 
have  not  cheated  before,  begin  to  cheat  then. 
Many  who  have  never  preyed  on  any  man,  begin 
then  to  look  around  for  a  victim.  Some  strange, 
confused,  irrational  hope  of  staving  off  the  evil  day, 
of  postponing  the  shame,  beguiles  the  poor  debtor 
into  fraud  after  fraud,  into  folly  after  folly,  till,  at 
the  day  of  exposure,  inevitable  after  all,  his  father 
has  to  mourn  over  a  son  not  only  unhappy,  but 
disreputable ;  his  wife  to  mourn  over  a  husband  not 
only  ruined,  but  disgraced ;  his  children  to  mourn 
over  not  only  blighted  prospects,  but  a  tarnished 
name  ;  his  religious  connexions,  if  such  he  had,  to 
mourn  not  only  the  disaster  of  a  brother,  but  the 
dishonour  of  the  Christian  name. 

Ay,  the  day  when  ruin  impends  is  the  trades- 
man's testing  day.  To  be  suddenly  lifted  up  is  a 
keen  test;  one  under  which  thousands  fail.  But, 
O,  it  is  also  a  keen  test  to  be  dragged  down,  down, 
down ;  to  feel  ruin,  shame,  and  reproaches  coming ; 
to  feel  hope  driven  wild  suggesting  a  thousand  idle 
plans  of  rescue;  and  all  nature  within  rising  in 
convulsive  protest  against  disgrace.  Take  care, 
young  man,  take  care  that  you  do  not  precipitate 
yourself  into  that  danger.  It  is  easy,  very  easy  for 
you  to  say  that  if  you  found  things  going  wrong 
you  would  soon  see  whether  there  was  a  possi- 
bility of  wrorking  them  right,  and  if  not,  you  would 
submit  to  misfortune  while  your  character  stood 
clear,  rather  than  protract  a  heart-breaking  struggle. 


RISE   AND   PROGRESS.  lGf> 

Ah  !  we  are  all  wise  for  difficulties  that  have  never 
crossed  us,  and  strong  for  temptations  that  have 
never  come.  But  you  are  just  as  liable  as  another 
to  be  gradually  seduced  from  integrity  to  shuffling. 
There  are  three  things  which  most  wonderfully  re- 
duce a  man's  moral  strength, — hunger,  dependence, 
and  debt.  He  on  Avhose  principles  one  of  these 
is  pressing,  is  like  a  man  of  strong  limb  whose 
heart  is  diseased  ;  he  carries  weakness  within  him  ; 
you  know  not  the  moment  when  he  will  fall  down. 
I  tell  you  again,  that  if  you  run  deep  into  debt  you 
are  just  like  a  man  in  the  rapids  above  a  waterfall ; 
you  are  drifting  and  struggling,  now  hoping  to  gain 
a  foot-length,  now  going  downward  ten ;  drifting 
and  struggling,  with  ruin  below,  and  rocks  around; 
drifting  and  struggling  till  quite  bewildered;  and 
casting  about  hither  and  thither,  scarce  knowing 
what  you  do,  you  at  length  grasp  a  friend  or  a 
brother  who  is  hurried  down  with  you,  sharing 
your  disaster,  and  doubling  your  remorse. 

Bankruptcy  is  a  woe  which  no  man  should  wan- 
tonly provoke.  He  that  has  once  descended  that 
fall,  has  enough  to  weigh  upon  his  heart  for  years. 
True,  he  may  have  done  all  which  vigilance  could 
do  to  avert  the  evil ;  and  all  that  honesty  could  do 
to  lighten  its  stroke  upon  others.  Yet  others  have 
suffered  by  confiding  in  him,  and  his  head  may  well 
be  held  downward.  It  is  no  credit  to  any  man  to 
treat  a  failure  by  which  others  have  lost  severely  as 
if  it  were  only  a  chance  of  trade,  about  which  he 
need  not  trouble  himself.     "It  is  no  sin  to  be  un- 


166  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

fortunate."  Certainly  not ;  but  mark  the  man 
whose  failure  comes  by  misfortune  alone,  and  not  at 
all  by  fault.  Does  he  not  feel  his  miscarriage  ?  Is 
not  his  heart  bowed  down  ?  Does  he  not  bleed  at 
the  core  to  think  that  he  has  been  the  occasion  of 
loss  to  any  ?  He  who,  after  a  failure,  is  brisk  and 
consequential,  does  make  one  imagine  that  his  con- 
science is  not  very  lively  or  his  sense  of  honour 
high.  Some  men  seem  to  take  a  failure  quite  com- 
fortably ;  they  stop  and  go  on  again,  stop  and  go 
on  again,  without  changing  their  style  of  living  or 
lowering  their  heads.  That  is  a  feat  which  no 
honest  man  can  admire.  He  by  whom  others  suf- 
fer might  to  show  that  he  suffers  too.  And  then 
to  see  these  men  who  are  apt  to  break  down  in  the 
counting  house,  come  forth  into  the  corporation, 
the  election  committee,  the  vestry  meeting,  the 
Mechanics'  Institute,  or  the  assemblies  of  some  reli- 
gious society,  and  prate  with  brave  brow  as  if  wis- 
dom and  strength  were  with  them  !  Well,  the  man 
may  have  been  honest,  perhaps,  but  he  is  not  hum- 
ble ;  he  may  have  had  no  fraud  in  him,  but  he  has 
no  sense.  He  who  is  habitually  unsuccessful  should 
be  habitually  retiring.  This  is  especially  the  case 
with  men  who  profess  to  be  religious.  None  such 
can  fail,  however  free  from  rightful  blame,  without 
causing  many  to  speak  evil  of  religion.  Whoever, 
therefore,  has  been  overtaken  by  bankruptcy  ought 
thenceforth  to  deport  himself  meekly,  as  one  through 
whose  sufferings  (if  not  through  his  errors)  religion 
has    suffered.     TTc    ought    to    set  his   heart    upon 


RISE    AND   PROGRESS.  167 

proving,  even  though  many  years  should  be  neces- 
sary to  prove  it,  that  no  man  lost  by  any  fault  of 
his.  True,  the  law  has  absolved  him  from  his  debts. 
The  law  is  just  and  good.  It  is  well  that  when  a 
man  has  nothing  to  pay,  an  escape  should  be  af- 
forded to  him.  But  no  law  can  alter  the  fact  that 
men  have  trusted  him  and  been  disappointed,  have 
placed  property  in  his  hand  and  lost  it ;  that  he  has 
promised  and  never  performed,  has  borrowed  and 
never  paid.  It  is,  certainly,  right  to  have  laws 
which  free  the  helpless  from  the  relentless ;  but  no 
law  can  annul  the  obligation  of  him  who  has  pro- 
mised to  perform,  (when  in  his  power,)  of  him  who 
has  borrowed  to  pay.  An  honest  tradesman  is 
trudging  on  foot  from  his  little  house  at  Dalston 
into  the  city  ;  another  passes  him  in  a  sober,  respect- 
able carriage  and  pair.  The  pedestrian  remembers 
that  this  flourishing  merchant  once  failed,  and  he 
lost  five  hundred  pounds.  It  is  twenty  years  ago : 
the  other  has  prospered  and  he  has  not.  Yet  it  is 
very  natural  for  him  to  think  that  it  would  have 
been  more  honourable  to  pay  him  his  money  than 
to  set  up  a  carriage  ;  he  might  have  had  an  honest 
carriage  of  his  own  had  it  not  been  for  the  check 
that  loss  gave  him. 

One  thing  which  materially  aided  the  Messrs. 
Budgett  in  their  upward  struggle,  was  their  system 
of  selling  for  cash.  That  system  was  begun  at  the 
outset,  and  maintained  throughout.  Customers  in 
the  neighbourhood  paid  for  all  purchases  immedi- 
ately.     This  could  not  be  carried  out  in  the  same 


168  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

form  with  customers  at  a  distance.  When  they 
ordered  goods  they  could  not,  of  course,  pay  for 
them  till  they  had  been  received ;  and  that  in  many 
cases  would  be  days  after  the  order  was  given,  when 
no  representative  of  the  firm  was  on  the  spot.  But 
a  plan  was  adopted  which  came  as  near  to  prompt 
payment  as  possible.  Each  customer  was  waited 
upon  by  a  traveller  once  in  four  weeks.  Each 
customer  knewT  what  day  and  what  hour  to  expect 

the  visit.     If  Mr.  S had  called  on  a  tradesman 

in  Hereford  on  Monday  at  ten  o'clock,  that  trades- 
man would  expect  Mr.  S four  weeks  after  on 

Monday  at  ten  o'clock.     If  he  had  given  Mr.  S 

an  order  on  his  former  visit,  the  cash  would  be  ex- 
pected now ;  if  he  had  ordered  any  goods  in  the 
meantime  the  cash  for  them  also  would  be  ex- 
pected now ;  so  that  up  to  this  moment,  Monday  at 
ten  o'clock,  the  account  would  stand  perfectly  clear. 
If  the  tradesman  was  not  at  home  or  had  not  pre- 
pared himself  with  his  cash,  the  traveller  did  not 
call  again  ;  and  no  order  was  taken  from  one  who 
had  not  discharged  his  account.  Mr.  Budgett  re- 
garded the  maintenance  of  these  rules  as  of  the 
first  importance.  He  would  at  any  time  lose 
customers  and  sacrifice  much  prospective  advantage 
rather  than  diverge  from  them.  His  case  was  not 
that  of  a  house  which  waits  till  it  has  attained  a 
commanding  name  for  one  particular  article,  and 
then  imposes  stricter  terms  of  payment  for  that 
article.  He  began  with  his  principle  when  he  had 
everything  to  gain.     He  fought  bis  way  up  with  it, 


RISE  AND   PROGRESS.  169 

even  though  he  found  it  continually  blocking  up  his 
path,  making  him  enemies,  and  abridging  his  sales. 
He  was  persuaded  of  its  excellence,  and  by  it  he 
would  stand.  Every  new  customer  was  clearly 
told  what  were  the  principles  of  the  house;  every 
man  who  bought  did  so  with  the  clear  understand- 
ing that  he  was  not  to  pay  in  bills,  but  in  cash. 
This  being  the  case,  anyone  who  endeavoured  to 
evade  the  rule  showed  that  he  had  not  been  honest 
in  the  previous  understanding.  It  was  not  like  a 
case .  of  long  credit,  where  one  may  be  utterly  de- 
ceived in  his  expectations  from  one  term  to  another. 
Mr.  Budgett,  therefore,  felt  that  he  could  not  do  a 
customer  a  more  serious  injury  than  to  permit  him 
to  trifle  with  his  eno-ao-ements.  He  had  known 
precisely  on  what  terms  he  received  the  goods,  and 
if  it  proved  that  he  had  not  been  candid,  then  it 
seemed  to  him  as  if  indulgence  were  a  bounty  on 
fraud  and  an  encouragement  in  a  course  of  loose 
dealing  which  must  terminate  ruinously.  He  would 
not  tolerate  any  man  in  imposition ;  and  he  con- 
sidered it  a  clear  case  of  foul  play  when  a  man  con- 
cluded a  bargain  on  certain  well-understood  terms, 
intending  to  evade  those  terms.  He  was  willing  to 
give  away  money  to  any  amount,  willing  to  lend  to 
any  amount,  willing  to  sacrifice  custom  to  any 
amount ;  but  he  would  not  be  imposed  upon ;  he 
would  not  trade  with  any  man  who  met  him  under 
false  pretences ;  he  would  not  for  any  plea  relax 
those  rules  of  business  which  he  knew  to  be  right, 
wise,  and  good — good  even  for  the  man  who  in  his 


170  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

short-sightedness  would  rail  at  them  or  trifle,  with 
them ;  and  he  knew  that  if  these  rules  were  to  be 
maintained  at  all  they  must  be  maintained  invari- 
ably. Many  thought  it  was  hard  of  him  not  to  give 
longer  credit.  He  would  have  thought  it  as  great 
an  unMndness  as  to  indulge  a  spoiled  child  with 
dainties  which  had  already  injured  his  health  and 
were  likely  to  destroy  it.  Many  who  bought 
and  had  imagined  they  could  do  as  they  pleased 
with  his  rules,  thought  it  was  abominably  hard  to 
hold  them  to  their  promises.  He  would '  have 
looked  upon  indulgence  as  a  licensing  of  foul  play, 
and  as  destroying  their  only  chance  of  getting  upon 
a  solid  foundation  where  they  might  succeed  and  be 
comfortable. 

The  Rev.  B.  Carvosso,  who  knew  him  well  and 
saw  clearly  the  originality  and  worth  of  his  charac- 
ter, has  furnished  me  with  many  valuable  glimpses 
of  his  life,  both  inward  and  outward.  On  the  point 
nowr  in  hand,  he  says : — 

"  "While  he  would  so  readily  give  away  thousands 
of  gold  and  silver,  out  of  the  sale-room  and  count- 
ing-house, in  business  he  was  rigid  about  pence  and 
days.  A  man  in  small  business,  his  neighbour,  had 
dealt  with  him  contrary  to  rule.  He  ordered  flour 
at  the  end  of  the  twenty-eight  days — the  period  of 
credit — but  did  not  bring  the  amount  of  the  former 
order.  The  flour  was  in  the  wagon,  the  carter  on 
the  way  with  it.  The  mistake  was  discovered ;  a 
messenger  was  despatched  with  orders  to  give  the 
poor  man  one  sack  of  flour,  brine/  back  the  rest,  and 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS.  1*71 

henceforth  cease  to  do  business  with  him !  To 
maintain  a  small  business  principle  he  would  readily 
submit  to  an  astonishing  pecuniary  loss." 

Had  his  poor  neighbour  gone  to  him  and  told 
him  he  was  in  difficulties,  doubtless  he  would  have 
found  a  ready  friend.  But  instead  of  taking  that 
honest  course,  he  tries  by  a  trick  to  obtain  goods. 
That  must  be  stopped,  and  it  is  stopped  at  once ; 
yet  stopped  in  a  way  which  shows  that  the  fear  of 
the  little  pecuniary  loss  which  might  be  involved  in 
this  case  was  not  the  motive  for  decision,  but  the 
principle  of  adhering  to  the  rules  of  the  establish- 
ment and  of  checking  unfair  dealing  in  their  custom- 
ers. To  him  none  of  his  business  principles  were 
"small,"  nor  were  they  to  any  who  had  learned 
from  him  their  real  bearing  on  the  course  of  trade. 
I  Respecting  a  cash  commerce  instead  of  a  credit 
commerce  his  views  were  large  and  his  convictions 
deep.  He  saw  many  a  family  wrecked  under  his 
eye,  who  had  been  tempted  by  credit  into  a  trade 
to  which  their  means  were  inadequate.  He  saw 
men  suddenly  reduced  from  prosperous  ease  to 
struggling  embarrassment,  just  by  a  few  return 
bills.  They  had  industry,  tact,  and  a  growing  con- 
nexion ;  yet  because  a  few  large  customers  have 
deceived  them,  their  lawful  profit  for  years  of  toil 
is  swept  away.  He  saw  when  one  such  house  fell, 
a  whole  circle  of  families  shattered  by  the  stroke ; 
another  circle  of  families  linked  with  the  former 
shattered  too;  then  another  circle,  and  another 
of  families  which  had  known  wealth  and  honour, 


1*72  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

dashed  down  to  want  and  shame,  till  the  whole 
country  was  startled  with  the  noise  of  ruin.  Wit- 
nessing scenes  like  this,  no  wonder  that  he  wrote  it 
on  his  heart,  that  the  system  of  credit  was  a  system 
of  curses ;  no  wonder  that  in  every  establishment 
erected  on  a  foundation  of  cash  payments,  he  saw 
a  conquest  from  chaos  and  a  step  toward  public  re- 
pose ;  no  wonder  that  in  every  facility  to  incur 
debts,  he  saw  a  decoy  and  a  pitfall ;  no  wonder  that 
the  ambition  to  set  an  example  of  success  on  a  sys- 
tem of  cash  payments  was  strong  within  him,  that 
he  viewed  it  as  a  deed  of  right  serviceable  patriot- 
ism,— a  thankless,  but  most  substantial  offering  to 
mankind. 

The  modern  history  of  Europe,  apart  from  all 
other  branches  of  experience,  abundantly  testifies  to 
the  value  of  Mr.  Budgett's  favourite  principle.  All 
nations  have  not  been  so  reckless  as  our  own  and 
our  American  cousins  ;  and  well  for  them  in  the  days 
of  their  trial  that  they  have  not.  An  able  writer  on 
commerce  states : — 

"  If  we  begin  with  Holland,  we  find  that  bargains 
in  that  country  were,  in  its  better  days,  almost  al- 
ways made  for  ready  money,  or  for  so  short  a  date 
as  six  weeks  or  two  months.  Profits  were  small  in 
their  ratio,  but  the  quickness  of  returns  made  then? 
eventually  large.  Failures  were  rare,  even  in  so  dis- 
tressing an  era  as  the  occupation  of  their  country 
by  the  French,  which  began  in  1*795,  and  involved 
from  the  outset  a  stoppage  of  maritime  intercourse 
with  all  their  possessions  in  India  and  America. 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS.  173 

The  consequence  of  this  stoppage  was  a  decay  of 
trade,  a  suspension  of  various  undertakings,  a  scarcity 
of  work,  a  miserable  dulness  in  the  '  sale  of  goods,' — 
all  leading,  in  the  first  instance  to  diminish  income, 
and  eventually  to  encroachment  on  capital.  But 
amidst  this  distress  the  failures  were  surprisingly 
few, — fewer,  indeed,  than  occur  in  Britain  in  any 
ordinary  season.  x\nother  example,  equally  replete 
with  instruction,  was  the  state  of  France  after  the 
double  invasion  of  1 8 1 4  and  1815.  There  prevailed 
at  that  time  a  general  discouragement  among  the 
upper  ranks,  and  a  great  deal  of  wretchedness  among 
the  lower,  trade  being  at  a  stand  and  stocks  of 
goods  lying  unsold  in  shops  or  warehouses  for  years ; 
still  bankruptcy  was  exceedingly  rare.  All  this 
shows  what  a  satisfactory  prospect  we  may  antici- 
pate, when  we  adopt  the  plan  of  transacting  the 
greater  part  of  our  business  for  ready  money." 

When  we  contrast  these  instances  of  comparative 
security  amid  the  most  frightful  national  convulsions, 
with  what  we  have  all  seen  of  the  terrible  panic- 
times  which  overtake  us  every  now  and  then  in  the 
midst  of  national  tranquillity,  it  is  quite  enough  to 
drive  every  man  who  hates  all  things  which  breed 
wretchedness  to  rise  against  the  debtor  and  creditor 
system  with  downright  animosity.  "Were  we  to  be 
invaded,  were  we  to  have  a  revolution,  were  any 
such  disaster  to  befall  our  nation  as  has  befallen 
others,  who  can  placidly  contemplate  the  ruin 
which  would  accrue  in  every  town  throughout  the 
country  \ 


174  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

One  of  your  great  men  of  the  city,  one  who 
figured  in  some  of  the  most  famous  of  its  financial 
feats,  one  who  lived  and  died  worth  his  thousands 
and  tens  of  thousands,  was  at  the  fireside  of  a  friend 
when  a  cheerful  little  girl  was  bidding  good-night ; 
"  Ah !"  exclaimed  the  man  of  stores  and  cares, 
"she  has  got  no  return  bills  to  think  upon."  He 
did  not  expect  to  go  to  sleep  so  blithely  ;  there  was 
a  load  upon  his  heart — return  bills  to  be  sure.  And 
of  those  well-dressed,  well-looking,  intelligent,  ener- 
getic men,  who  teem  towards  all  the  metropolitan 
termini  between  four  and  five  o'clock  every  after- 
noon, in  hot  haste  from  the  city,  not  a  few  are  carry- 
ing upon  their  hearts  that  same  dull  load,  return 
bills.  Many,  when  they  come  home,  instead  of  en- 
joying  their  leisure  hour,  are  smarting  under  the 
harass  of  return  bills ;  many  a  one,  when  he  asks 
his  daughter  to  play  and  sing,  is  only  seeking  relief 
from  the  necessity  of  talking  that  he  may  muse  at 
leisure  on  his  return  bills.  Many  a  one  who  goes 
out  to  spend  the  evening,  wishes  the  part}'  was  at 
Nova  Zembla,  for  his  head  is  pestered  with  return 
bills.  Many  a  one,  when  a  friend  calls  to  spend  an 
hour,  wishes  he  was  at  the  antipodes,  for  he  has 
enough  to  think  about  with  his  return  bills.  Many 
a  one  who  dances  because  he  has  promised  to  be  at 
the  ball,  seems  at  every  step  to  awake  a  rustling  of 
let  urn  bills.  Many  a  man  who  has  his  eye  seem- 
ingly upon  a  book,  is  studying  the  unloveable  litera- 
ture of  return  bills.  Many  a  one  who  is  wont  to  go 
t<>  the  week-evening  service,  and  there  to  find  one 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS.  Ho 

hour  of  spiritual  quiet  amid  a  week  of  worldly  din, 
can  hardly  bring  himself  to  go,  his  thoughts  are  so 
harassed  by  those  return  bills.  Many  a  man  who 
is  in  his  pew  on  Sunday,  hears  neither  prayer,  nor 
hymn,  nor  sermon,  his  poor  lorn  mind  is  chased 
round  dingy  counting-houses,  haunted  by  return 
bills.  Of  old  times,  ghosts,  fairies,  brownies, 
witches,  and  such  tribulations  were  familiar  to  all 
men  in  their  struggles.  These  have  disappeared  ; 
but  our  counting-houses  have  a  new  race  of  reve- 
iianls, — bills,  which  were  seen  out  of  the  world  and 
were  counted  as  dead,  suddenly  re-appear  and  must 
1  »e  laid  before  there  can  be  peace.  Not  a  day  passes 
over  us  but  these  modern  goblins  strike  a  deadly 
chill  to  some  hearts,  sour  tempers,  spoil  appetites, 
render  husbands  unwilling  to  tell  all  at  home,  fathers 
pensive  as  their  children  laugh,  masters  irritable ; 
make  the  peevish  scold,  the  wicked  swear,  and  the 
good  man  lift  up  his  heart  to  God  with  the  prayer 
men  pray  in  time  of  trouble.  What  a  leak  is 
at  sea,  what  a  mine  is  under  a  fort,  what  a  heart 
disease  is  in  the  frame, — that  is  the  system  of  bill- 
bubble  in  trade.  And  yet  sensible,  solvent  men, 
with  homes  to  cheer  and  a  country  to  serve,  will  go 
on  encouraging  and  practising  that  preposterous 
torment ! 

One  has  seen  children  build  up  a  little  fabric  of 
card-board  and  call  it  a  house,  and  keep  it  up  as 
long  as  they  could ;  but  down  it  came  soon,  and 
they  did  not  take  it  to  heart.  But  it  is  quite  another 
sight  to  see  men,  not  children,  build  up  a  structure 


176  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

of  paper  and  then  call  it  "  a  house ;"  not  a  plaything 
house,  but  a  serious  house  for  people  to  buy  and 
sell  in,  and  to  trust  to  for  a  shelter  from  the  tem- 
pests of  misfortune ;  to  see  them  rear  a  whole  row 
of  these  paper  "  houses,"  build  one  on  the  end  of 
another,  so  that  if  one  fall  all  fall,  and  seriously  per- 
suading themselves,  and  their  wives  and  children, 
that  these  make-believe  sheds  are  "  houses  "  to  spend 
their  lives  in.  It  is  a  quaint,  half-lunatic  sort  of  ex- 
hibition ;  but  it  mingles  the  sad  with  the  comical, 
when  some  jolt  capsizes  one  of  the  paper  piles,  and 
down  rustles  the  whole  row ;  while  the  builders, 
unlike  the  children  who  counted  on  the  tumbling 
of  their  structure,  take  it  mightily  to  heart  and  are 
in  anguish. 

John  Bull  and  Jonathan  between  them  have  a 
very  mischievous  propensity  to  set  up  these  paper 
"houses"  and  delude  people  into  trusting  them. 
They  have  over  and  over  again  seen  what  a  shock- 
ing sort  of  game  it  is,  and  how  misery  and  wretch- 
edness come  out  of  it ;  but  all  in  vain, — they  go  on, 
and  are  likely  to  do  so,  in  spite  of  any  little  sorrow 
we  may  utter  here  upon  the  subject.  Which  of  the 
two  is  worse  it  is  hard  to  say,  though  John  lays 
great  blame  on  Jonathan  and  says  he  builds  his 
houses  far  higher,  putting  on  six  or  even  nine  stories, 
which  John  thinks  quite  too  much.  But  it  is  no 
business  of  ours  to  arbitrate  between  them ;  they  are 
both  foolish  and  mischievous  ;  which  is  the  more  so 
is  little  matter.  But  they  had  better,  both  of  them, 
take  warning  in  time  and  cease  to  play  at  hazard, 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS;  17  V 

laying  the  happiness  of  families  and  the  equanimity 
of  nations  as  the  stake. 

The  new  merchants  who  rose  so  rapidly,  and  to 
their  neighbours  so  unaccountably,  at  Kinffswood 
Hill,  were  never  haunted  with  return  bills.  They 
were  never  travelling-  in  the  dark,  liable  suddenly  to 
meet  an  apparition  that  would  block  up  their  way. 
They  always  knew  where  they  were  and  whither 
they  were  going.  They  had  not  looked  upon  a 
hundred  pounds  as  paid,  when  it  turned  out  that 
they  had  it  to  pay.  They  had  not  to  sacrifice  the 
profits  made  by  fifty  honest  men  to  cover  the  loss 
made  by  one  rogue.  They  had  not  to  look  to  fifty 
sensible  men  to  pay  a  loss  occasioned  by  one  fool. 
They  had  not  to  ponder  which  were  safe  bills  and 
which  were  risky  ones;  they  had  no  bills  at  all. 
They  had  not  to  study  what  were  good  debts  and 
what  bad  debts ;  they  had  no  debts  at  all.  Vast 
as  their  transactions  were,  a  petty  loss  of  forty  or 
fifty  pounds  was  quite  an  event,  a  crisis  which  set 
the  whole  staff  in  motion  as  if  their  honour  were 
.  tarnished. 

It  is  one  distinctive  beauty  of  the  credit  system 
that  honest  men  have  to  pay  for  the  articles  bought 
by  rogues,  and  wise  men  for  the  articles  bought  by 
fools.  The  merchant,  of  course,  must  make  a  profit 
on  the  whole,  and  he  has  no  alternative  but  to  charge 
John  and  Thomas  for  the  coat  which  Horatio  bought 
and  did  not  pay  for.  I  confess  it  seems  to  me,  that 
John  and  Thomas  had  better  not  be  taxed  thus. 
If  Horatio  needs  a  coat  provided  by  other  people, 

12 


178  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

he  had  better  say  so  and  come  by  it  honestly, 
rather  than  steal  a  piece  by  aid  of  the  merchant 
from  one  neighbour  and  another,  and  so  make  up 
a  fine  garment  at  their  expense.  John  and  Thomas 
are  very  much  wronged,  and  I  defy  the  merchant 
to  prove  that  he  is  not  the  accomplice  of  Horatio  in 
defrauding  them. 

The  advantage  of  a  trade  based  on  cash  instead 
of  on  credit  to  the  comfort  and  morality  of  the  na- 
tion is  incalculable.  Credit  does  occasionally  enable 
a  man  of  energy  to  take  a  position  he  could  not 
else  have  taken ;  but  for  one  to  whom  it  proves  a 
substantial  benefit,  it  allures  thousands  to  uninter- 
rupted trouble,  and  a  whole  spawn  of  unfair  prac- 
tices owe  their  existence  to  it  alone.  The  credit 
system  ought  to  be  exploded.  Men  ought  to  be 
trained  to  place  themselves  in  accord  with  their  cir- 
cumstances, to  overcome  difficulties  not  by  artifice 
but  by  labour.  Families  ought  not  to  be  exposed  to 
live  in  uncertainty  as  to  whether  the  bread  they  eat 
is  their  own.  The  honest  and  the  apt  should  not 
be  mulcted  to  the  amount  of  the  frauds  and  waste 
of  those  who  reject  principle  or  lack  sense.  The 
commerce  of  the  nation  ought  not  to  rest  on  a  hol- 
low foundation,  exposed  at  every  pressure  to  col- 
lapse. It  Avas  one  of  Mr.  Budgett's  leading  desires 
that  the  example  of  their  firm  might  induce  many 
to  place  their  trade  on  a  firm  footing,  and  thus  the 
national  stability  and  happiness  would  be  advanced. 
This  was  his  work  of  patriotism,  and  a  more  valu- 
able service  he  could  not  bave  done  to  the  state ; 


RISE  AND   PROGRESS.  179 

much  better  than  if  he  had  been  a  great  speaker  at 
corporation  meetings,  and  a  great  man  among  the 
legislators  of  his  own  circle.  A  more  conclusive 
proof  that  success  is  possible  on  a  system  virtually 
of  cash  payment,  could  not  be  afforded  than  that 
found  in  his  own  case.  You  may  talk  of  impos- 
sibility as  you  please,  but  no  impossibility  can  con- 
front you  which  did  not  confront  them.  Yet,  with- 
out making  friends  by  giving  "  liberal  terms,"  con- 
stantly losing  friends  by  enforcing  cash,  often  turn- 
ing a  customer  into  an  enemy,  often  sending  away 
large  offers  of  trade ;  by  fidelity  to  a  sound  princi- 
ple and  to  the  advantages  which  it  offered  equally 
to  merchant  and  to  customer,  a  little  village  trade 
in  the  hands  of  men  without  influence  or  wealth, 
was  raised  against  most  powerful  opposition  to  great 
extent  and  profit.  The  thing  has  been  done  :  there- 
fore it  can  be  done  aorain. 

To  a  tradesman,  stock-taking  is  always  an  ex- 
citing time.  According  to  the  state  of  his  heart,  he 
receives  the  favourable  or  unfavourable  result ;  the 
sorrow  of  the  world  which  worketh  death,  the  bitter 
pining  over  money  lost  and  toil  ill-spent,  the  im- 
patience of  life  and  the  distaste  for  action,  the 
meek  submission  to  a  Father's  chastening  hand, 
the  close  searching  of  heart  to  see  where  the  rod 
has  been  provoked,  the  tranquil  joy  in  acknowledg- 
ing a  fruitful  blessing,  the  godly  fear  lest  growing 
wealth  should  bring  with  it  pride,  the  turbulent  de- 
light at  plenty  of  gain,  the  boastful  self-laudation 
on  talent  and  power,  the  malign  triumph  over  rival 


180  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

houses, — all  those  feelings,  and  a  thousand  more, 
are  raised  yearly  in  the  breasts  of  our  busy  neigh- 
bours when  they  learn  how  much  they  have  lost  or 
won.  One  of  the  oldest  servants  in  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Messrs.  Budgett,  one  who  saw  it  rise 
and  grow,  told  me  that,  as  his  station  lay  immedi- 
ately above  the  private  counting-house,  lie  found 
that  year  by  year,  as  soon  as  the  brothers  had 
struck  the  balance,  they  retired  into  an  inner  office, 
and  there  kneeling  down  before  the  Lord  of  all,  ac- 
knowledged his  allotment  of  success  or  of  failure, 
giving  thanks  or  presenting  humiliation  as  the  case 
might  dictate. 

As  they  advanced  Samuel  bought  the  ground  in 
which  lay  the  old  quarry,  wherewith  you  are  already 
familiar.  Here  he  built  a  substantial  house,  which, 
with  alterations,  was  his  abode  to  the  end.  His 
friend  the  Rev.  Joseph  Wood  was  standing  with 
him  in  his  new  home,  the  monument  of  past  suc- 
cess and  of  expected  abundance.  On  looking  out 
in  front,  the  eye  caught  sight  of  the  parish  work- 
house beyond  the  garden ;  on  looking  out  behind, 
it  rested  on  the  tombstones  of  a  cemetery.  Mr. 
Wood  said  to  his  prosperous  friend,  "You  have 
something  here  to  admonish  you.  In  front  you 
have  the  workhouse  to  which  you  may  come ;  be- 
hind is  the  graveyard  to  which  you  must  come." 
Ah !  it  were  well  for  all  of  you  who  are  growing 
rich  fast,  had  you  at  hand  some  honest  friend  to  tell 
you  now  and  then  a  useful  truth ;  but  would  you 
receive  such  homely  words  in  a  spirit  of  cordiality 


RISE  AND   PROGRESS.  1»1 

and  gratitude?  Samuel  Budgett  did.  And  you, 
ministers,  would  you  all,  with  an  acquaintance  so 
rapidly  acquiring  wealth  and  importance,  venture  to 
go  so  close?  If  you  have  some  of  that  class  in 
your  flock,  do  give  them  now  and  then  a  faithful 
word ;  they  need  it,  poor  men,  if  any  upon  earth  do. 
We  have  just,  once  more,  named  the  old  quarry 
which  had  heen  the  scene  of  his  boyish  meditations. 
This  recalls  a  circumstance  of  which  it  was  also  the 
scene  during  the  progress  of  the  rise.  Grocers  have 
never  enjoyed  an  immaculate  reputation  in  the  mat- 
ter of  adulterating  goods.  Not  a  few  of  their  most 
costly  wares  are  capable  of  easy  mixture.  Con- 
science is  generally  trained  to  the  posture  habitual 
to  the  trade.  Of  course  the  grocer  has  exceedingly 
good  reasons  for  his  apprentices,  why  they  should 
adulterate.  Yet  if  he  went  to  the  draper  and  found 
that  for  linen  he  had  bought  a  mixture  of  cotton 
and  flax,  he  would  call  the  draper  a  cheat.  Or  if 
he  found  that  the  silversmith  had  sold  him  plated 
spoons  for  silver  spoons,  he  would  call  him  a  cheat. 
It  is  only,  you  see,  in  his  own  line  of  business  that 
such  strong  reasons  exist  for  doing  a  little  deception. 
In  Mr.  Budgett's  early  days,  pepper  was  under  a 
heavy  tax  ;  and  in  the  trade,  universal  tradition  said 
that  out  of  the  trade  everybody  expected  pepper  to 
be  mixed.  In  the  shop  stood  a  cask  labelled  P.  D., 
containing  something  very  like  pepper  dust,  where- 
with it  was  usual  to  mix  the  pepper  before  sending 
it  forth  to  serve  the  public.  The  trade  tradition  had 
obtained  for  the  apocryphal  P.  D.  a  place  amongst 


182  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

the  standard  articles  of  the  shop,  and  on  the 
strength  of  that  tradition  it  was  vended  for  pepper 
by  men  who  thought  they  were  honest.  But  as 
Samuel  went  forward  in  life  his  ideas  on  trade  mo- 
rality grew  clearer.  This  P.  D.  began  to  give  him 
much  discomfort.  He  thought  upon  it  till  he  was 
satisfied  that,  when  all  that  could  he  said  was 
weighed,  the  thins  was  wrong.  Arrived  at  this 
conclusion,  he  felt  that  no  blessing  could  he 
upon  the  place  while  it  was  there.  He  instantly 
decreed  that  P.  D.  should  perish.  It  was  night ; 
hut  back  he  went  to  the  shop,  took  the  hypocritical 
cask,  carried  it  forth  to  the  quarry,  then  staved  it 
and  scattered  P.  D.  among  the  clods  and  slag  and 
stones.  He  returned  with  a  light  heart.  But  he 
recollected  that  he  had  left  the  staves  of  the  cask 
in  the  quarry;  and  as  there  was  no -need  to  let 
them  go  to  waste,  his  first  act  in  the  morning  was 
to  return  and  gather  them  up. 

Now,  ye  busy  shopmen,  and  ye,  more  lordly 
merchants,  say,  before  the  only  witness  who  beheld 
that  act  under  the  night  heaven,  have  you  no  P.  1>. 
which  ought  to  be  scattered  before  you  go  to  sleep  i 
Your  thought  turns  toward  something;  you  wera 
taught  it;  men  worthy  in  their  way  justify  it ;  you 
are  able  to  laugh  others  out  of  their  scruples  about 
it ;  you  argue  with  yourself  till  it  appears  "  fair 
enough ;"  but  do  for  once  just  go  to  your  private 
room,  and  sit  down  and  think.  Be  rational  for  a 
moment  or  two ;  do  not  refuse  to  converse  alone 
with  your  conscience  and  your  God;  ay,  go  down 


RISE  AND   PROGRESS.  183 

upon  your  knees  and  pray  for  light,  for  it  is  no 
small  matter  to  be  doing  wrong.  You  may  smile 
at  it,  you  may  gloss  it  over,  you  may  "  pooh-pooh" 
warning  ;  but  wrong  is  wrong,  and  there  is  a  Judge 
above  us  ;  wrong  is  wrong,  and  it  will  find  you  out. 
Be  sure  this  world  is  not  a  lawless  common,  where 
all  who  can  may  plunder  and  go  harmless  :  it  is  a 
kingdom  with  a  strong,  just  King,  whose  laws  can- 
not be  broken,  whose  subjects  cannot  be  ill  treated 
in  his  sight,  without  bringing  upon  the  offender  a 
1  ><•<•<  >ming  punishment. 

This  world  of  ours  contains  a  great  deal  of  P.  D. 
The  ship-owner  has  a  ship  which  has  become  too 
old  to  carry  sugar  from  the  West  Indies  without 
damaging  it  by  leakage;  so  he  fits  her  out  as  a 
passenger  ship,  and  advertises  her  for  Sydney  as 
"  the  well-known,  favourite,  fast-sailing  ship ;"  and 
that  is  P.  D,  The  corn  merchant  has  a  cargo 
damaged  in  a  gale  at  sea ;  but  as  the  underwriters 
will  not  pay  unless  the  captain  can  swear  that  the 
vessel  struck,  the  merchant,  who  was  snug  in  his 
bed  when  the  gale  blewT,  tries  to  show  the  captain 
very  conclusively  that,  just  off  Flamborough  Head, 
the  keel  did  actually  touch  the  ground,  and  that 
therefore  he  may  safely  take  the  requisite  oath  ;  and 
that  is  P.  I).  The  private  banker  who  feels  that  he 
is  sinking,  takes  a  finer  house,  starts  an  additional 
carriage,  and  sets  up  for  a  member  of  parliament, 
that  people  may  think  he  scarcely  knows  what  to 
do  with  his  money  ;  and  that  is  P.  D.  The  direc- 
tor of  a  joint-stock  bank  who  sees  that  the  concern 


184  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

is  hollow,  sells  out  his  own  shares,  hut  retains  his 
place  till  the  three  years  during  which  he  is  liable 
are  past,  that  no  one  else  may  take  fright ;  and  this 
is  P.  D.  The  shareholder  gets  up  a  rumour  that 
the  Petty-borough  railway  is  going  to  he  amalga- 
mated with  the  Great  Central  line ;  and  this  is 
P.  D.  The  warehouseman  is  standing  by  a  parcel 
of  goods  which  have  been  on  his  hands  for  some 
weeks ;  a  customer  enters  and  is  received  with 
smiles.  "Are  these  new?"  "The  latest  things 
we  have — just  out ;  in  fact  I  almost  thought  you 
would  look  in  to-day,  and  have  this  moment  had 
the  parcel  opened  for  you  ;"  and  that  is  P.  D.  The 
glove  seller  is  asked  for  Dent's  gloves,  and  produces 
you  an  article  which  never  passed  through  Dent's 
hands,  or  cost  Dent's  price.  "  These  are  nut  1  tent's." 
"  I  beg  your  pardon,  they  are  Dent's  best ;  I  bought 
them  there  myself;"  and  that  is  P.  D.  If  you  go 
on  you  will  be  astonished  how  P.  D.  is  in  most 
places;  in  books,  at  the  board  of  cabinet  councils, 
in  senates,  in  journals,  in  the  landlord's  offiee,  in  the 
farmer's  market-room,  in  the  milkman's  pail,  in  the 
undertaker's  plumes,  in  the  druggist's  phials,  in  the 
lawyer's  bag,  on  sparkling  belles  at  the  royal  ball, 
in  the  dens  of  low  dealers  and  thieves.  In  feet,  if 
some  just  power  were  to-night  to  take  all  the  P.  D. 
casks  in  this  great  shop  we  call  the  world,  and  stave 
them  in,  scattering  the  deceitful  contents  to  the 
wind,  there  would  be  such  a  confusion  to-morrow 
morning  that  the  whole  shop  would  have  to  be  re- 
arranged. 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS.  185 

Your  business,  just  now,  is  to  search  out  P.  D. 
under  your  own  roof,  and  be  sure  you  do  not  let  it 
pass  the  night  there.  Out  with  it,  a  curse  is  in  it. 
Stave  the  cask  in  pieces.  Scatter  the  cheat  to  the 
night  winds.  Let  the  eye  of  heaven  which  is  look- 
ing down  behold  its  dispersion.  Then  go  and  crave 
pardon  for  all  the  acts  in  the  past  wherein  you  have 
touched,  tasted,  or  handled  the  unclean  thing.  Do 
not  mock  the  Almighty  by  asking  pardon  for  the  sin 
of  to-day,  when  you  are  holding  the  same  sin  in 
your  right  hand  for  repetition  to-morrow.  Pardon 
for  the  past  is  freely  offered  ;  but  think  not  that  God 
will  forgive  sins  you  will  not  forsake.  What  would 
you  think  of  a  father  wllo  would  forgive  a  son  for 
cheating  his  neighbour  when  he  was  continuing  to 
cheat,  and  who  would  not  immovably  refuse  his 
favour  unless  the  cheat  Avere  discontinued  and  as  far 
as  possible  repaired  ?  And  do  you  imagine  that  the 
great  holy  Father  above  will  own  for  a  child  of  his 
any  man  that  tricks,  defrauds,  or  lies  ?  If  with  a 
penitent  heart  you  turn  from  your  evil  ways,  He  is 
merciful  to  forgive  you ;  but  woe  to  you  and  woe  to 
all  of  us  were  He  so  cruel  a  ruler  as  to  be  at  peace 
with  the  unjust.  No,  no ;  the  righteous  God  loveth 
righteousness.  As  you  are  guilty,  you  feel  it  is  terri- 
ble to  believe  this.  But  it  shuts  the  door  of  hope 
only  on  the  path  of  transgression  ;  it  leaves  the  path 
of  repentance  open,  and  into  that,  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh  invites  you,  with  a  tender  effusion  of  love 
and  a  royal  promise  of  mercy. 

This  tact  respecting  P.  D.  reminds  me  of  another. 


186  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

A  few  years  before  Mr.  Budgett's  death,  a  person 
came  to  him  stating-  himself  to  be  a  Wesleyan  and 
a  local  preacher,  and  offering-  to  disclose  an  invention 
which  would  be  an  immense  saving  to  Mr.  Budgett 
in  his   extensive  business.     He  received  him  and 
heard  his  explanations.     It  proved  that  he  had  a 
plan  for  making  mock  vinegar  which  cost  hardly 
anything,  and  might  be  sold  for  real.     Mr.  Budgett 
led  him  to  disclose  his  scheme  fully,  and  when  he 
had  the  plot  opened  before  him,  he  broke  out  upon 
the  tempting  rogue  with  an  astounding  burst  of  in- 
dignation : — "  What !   you  want  to  lead   me   into 
dealing  like  this  ?     If  you  are  resolved  to  go  to  hell 
yourself,  why  should  you  fry  to  drag  me  with  you  ] 
And   you   profess   to  be   a  Wesleyan  and  a   local 
preacher  !  ! "     And  with  words  of  stinging  rebuke 
he  dismissed  this  emissary  of  evil,  who,  wishing  to 
bribe  him  to  sin,  had  used  religion  as  a  card  of  in- 
troduction.    When  men  coming  on  business  do  that, 
one  is  apt  to  suspect  them.     With  a  good  man,  re- 
ligion is  the  pathway  to  the  favour  of  God  ;  with  the 
hypocrite  it  is  the  pathway  to  the  favour  of  man. 
And  as  to  this  swindler,  just  reflect  on  the  errand 
whereupon  he  had  set  out.     He  had  discovered  a 
clever  way  of  cheating,  a  way  that  would  pay ;  he 
knew  that  men  of  business  have  their  weak  side  ; 
so  he  set  forth  to  seek  a  partner  in  fraud  and  gain — 
set  forth,  as  he  was  bo  unexpectedly  told,  on  a  direct 
journey  to  hell,  seeking  whom  he  might  lead  with 
him.     Whosoever  you  are  that  dare  to  sell  yourself 
for  silver  and  gold,  if  you  are  determined  to  sin,  do, 


1 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS.  187 

for  mercy's  sake,  sin  alone.  Do  not  tempt  others ; 
they  are  weak,  as  weak  as  you  were.  Do  not  tempt 
them,  or  they  will  sin  with  you,  and  together  you 
will  taste  the  hitter  pains  of  eternal  death. 

Gold  well  gotten  is  bright  and  fair ;  but  there  is 
gold  which  rusts  and  cancers.  The  stores  of  the 
man  who  walks  according  to  the  will  of  God  are 
under  a  special  blessing ;  but  the  stores  which  have 
been  unjustly  gathered  are  accursed.  "  Your  gold 
and  your  silver  is  cankered,  and  the  rust  of  them 
shall  be  a  witness  against  you,  and  shall  eat  up  your 
flesh  as  fire."  Far  better  have  no  gold  at  all,  than 
gold  with  that  curse  upon  it.  Far  better  let  cold 
pinch  this  frame,  or  hunger  gnaw  it,  than  that  the 
rust  of  ill-gotten  gold  should  eat  it  up  as  fire. 

Perhaps  you  may  once  or  twice  in  your  life  have 
passed  a  person  whose  countenance  struck  you  with 
a  painful  amazement.  It  was  the  face  of  a  man, 
with  features  as  of  flesh  and  blood,  but  all  hue  of 
flesh  and  blood  was  gone,  and  the  Avhole  visage  was 
overspread  with  a  dull  silver  gray,  and  a  mysterious 
metallic  gloss.  You  felt  wonder,  you  felt  curiosity, 
but  a  deep  impression  of  the  unnatural  made  pain 
the  strongest  feeling  of  all  which  the  spectacle  ex- 
cited. You  found  it  was  a  poor  man  who,  in  dis- 
ease, had  taken  mercury  till  it  transfused  itself 
through  his  skin  and  glistened  in  his  face.  Now  go 
where  he  will,  he  exhibits  the  proof  of  his  disorder 
and  of  the  large  quantity  of  metal  he  has  consumed. 
If  you  had  an  eye  to  see  the  souls  that  are  about 
vou,  many  would  you  see — alas,  too  many, — who 


188  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

are  just  like  that;  they  have  swallowed  doses  of 
metal, — ill-gotten,  cankered,  rusted  metal, — till  all 
purity  and  beauty  are  destroyed.  The  metal  is  in 
them,  throughout  them,  turning  their  complexion, 
attesting  their  disorder,  rendering  them  shocking  to 
look  upon  for  all  eyes  that  can  see  souls.  If  you 
have  unjust  gains,  they  do  not  disfigure  the  counte- 
nance on  which  we  short-sighted  creatures  look ;  but 
they  do  make  your  soul  a  pitiful  sight  to  the  great 
open  Eye  that  does  see.  Of  all  poisons  and  plagues, 
the  deadliest  you  can  admit  to  your  heart  is  gain 
which  fraud  has  won.  The  curse  of  the  Judsre  is  in 
it ;  the  curse  of  the  Judge  will  never  leave  it ;  it  is 
woe,  and  withering,  and  death  to  you ;  it  will  eat 
you  up  as  fire  ;  it  will  witness  against  you ;  ay,  were 
that  poor  soul  of  yours,  at  this  precise  moment,  to 
pass  into  the  presence  of  its  Judge,  the  proof  of  its 
money-worship  would  be  as  clear  on  its  visage  as  the 
proof  that  the  man  we  have  described  has  taken 
mercury  is  plain  upon  his. 

"  But  if  I  don't,  others  will ;  and  a  man  must 
live."  To  be  sure,  if  you  do  not  others  will ;  and 
what  reason  is  there  in  that?  According  to  that 
you  may  resort  to  piracy  and  pocket-picking.  "  A 
man  must  live !"  Yes,  but  a  man  must  not  live  on 
all  conditions ;  there  are  some  things  worse  than 
death ;  and  though  the  world  is  slow  to  own  it,  be 
assured  that  it  is  better  to  die  than  sin,  better  to 
want  than  defraud,  better  to  hunger  than  lie.  "  A 
man  nmst  live !"  Do  you  mean  that  a  man  can 
live  only  upon  the  fruits  of  sin  ?     If  so.  what  great 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS.  189 

use  is  there  in  living  at  all  ?  But  perhaps  all  you 
mean  is,  that  if  you  are  to  keep  up  your  present 
show,  if  you  are  to  be  above  your  circumstances,  you 
cannot  do  it  by  fair  means.  You  do  not  mean  that 
by  fair  means  you  could  not  find  food  and  raiment, 
but  that  you  could  not  take  the  stand  you  do. 
Well,  I  do  not  see  that  Providence  ever  meant  to 
furnish  you  with  facilities  for  keeping  up  a  pleasing 
imposture ;  and  if  His  government  does  not  harmo- 
nize with  such  a  design,  surely  we  cannot  complain. 
But  if  you  really  mean  that  the  way  to  find  food 
and  raiment  is  to  sin  against  God  and  against  your 
neighbour,  then  I  protest  your  utter  wickedness  and 
unbelief.  Do  you  mean  to  tell  your  Maker  that,  did 
you  perform  his  will,  he  would  not  give  you  daily 
bread  ? — that  you  can  only  subsist  under  his  heaven 
by  yielding  to  Satan  ?  Dare  not  to  imagine  such 
vain  things ;  put  them  very  far  from  your  heart. 
The  Father  above  is  Father  to  body  and  soul.  "  The 
Lord  is  for  the  body;"  he  set  every  one  of  its 
strings ;  he  has  kept  it  from  its  birth  till  now ;  the 
breath  thereof  is  in  his  hand.  His  own  Son  took 
upon  him  such  a  body,  and  with  such  a  body  went  up 
on  high,  where  he  is  seated  now  at  the  right  hand  of 
God.  He  has  chosen  the  body  for  his  living  tem- 
ple;  he  has  chosen  its  members  as  his  instruments 
of  righteousness ;  he  has  destined  the  body  to  out- 
live the  everlasting  hills,  and  rise  above  the  unap- 
proachable stars,  incorruptible  and  glorious,  with  his 
sons  forever.  Do  you  then  dare  to  think  that  the 
thing  to  be  done  for  the  welfare  of  such  a  body  is  to 


190  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

place  it  at  the  service  of  sin,  to  let  its  members  work 
wickedness.  He  does  not  promise  to  feed  your 
pride,  to  feed  your  imposture,  to  feed  your  idleness, 
to  feed  your  fancies ;  but  he  does,  in  covenant  grace, 
promise  to  care  for  your  body  if  its  members  are 
devoted  to  him.  "  Must  live  !"  And  is  it  living  to 
be  doing  wrong  for  the  sake  of  a  hundred  a  year 
more  than  you  could  gain  by  doing  right  ?  "  Man 
shall  not  live  by  bread  alone ;  but  by  every  word 
that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  This  is 
the  answer  to  all  Satan's  cry  about  "  you  must  live" 
He  is  ever  showing  you  some  method  to  "make 
bread,"  but,  I  warn  you,  never  make  bread  at  his 
bidding.  You  have  another  life  than  that  which 
bread  nourishes  ;  you  have  another  store  than  that 
which  holds  bread  you  can  weigh  and  measure ; — 
"  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of 
God."  That  is  your  store  ;  a  promise  is  better  than 
a  fraud ;  and  he  is  more  certain  to  live  who  trusts 
in  the  word  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Lord,  than  lie 
who,  distrusting  that,  proceeds  under  the  pressure 
of  want  to  make  bread  in  the  way  suggested  by 
Satan. 

After  the  brothers  had  been  in  partnership  for 
about  twenty  years,  the  elder  retired,  leaving  the 
business  to  the  sole  direction  of  our  merchant. 
About  this  time  he  made  his  first  and  last  essay  in 
speculation.  The  Chinese  war  suddenly  threw  the 
tea-market  into  agitation.  He  came  to  London, 
and  though  his  attention  had  been  but  slightly 
directed  to  the  tea  department  of  their  business,  lie 


RISE   AND   PROGRESS.  191 

bought  with  great  advantage,  and,  I  think,  on  the 
transactions  of  one  week  cleared  some  two  thou- 
sand pounds.  But  in  the  course  of  a  year  it 
proved  that  lie  lost  almost  as  much.  He  fre- 
quently cited  this  as  a  fair  example  of  what  was  to 
be  got  by  speculation  ;  and  though  so  energetic  in 
the  legitimate  prosecution  of  trade,  he  always  con- 
demned every  hazard  for  the  chance  of  rapid  pro- 
fits. A  little  at  a  time  was  his  principle ;  and  he 
preferred  the  slow  and  laborious  progress  made  by 
secure  trading,  to  the  risky  adventures  which  in  a 
single  day  might  bring  a  fortune  or  a  failure.  His 
hatred  of  speculation  did  not  arise  from  want  of 
enterprise  or  want  of  nerve ;  he  had  both,  but  he 
had  enough  of  healthy  energy  not  to  require  arti- 
ficial excitement.  When  the  railway  rage  arose,  he 
stood  firm.  No  man  naturally  would  feel  a 
stronger  attraction  towards  a  commercial  arena 
where  acuteness  and  push  seemed  certain  of  golden 
fruits ;  no  man  could  have  entered  that  arena  with 
a  clearer  probability  of  coming  off  a  winner :  but 
he  was  convinced  that  the  thing  was  wrong  and 
foolish — a  form  of  money-madness  into  which  no 
religious  man  should  allow  himself  to  be  seduced ; 
and  that  sums  gained  by  such  bargains  were  not  the 
wages  of  honest  labour,  but  the  winnings  of  question- 
able play.  Ah,  what  sighs  would  have  been  spared, 
what  hearts  left  unbroken,  what  families  saved  from 
ruin,  what  consciences  from  defilement,  had  all  reli- 
gious men  been  equally  wise  and  virtuous  in  that  time 
of  fiery  testing  for  the  Christians  of  this  country  ! 


192  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

Mr.  Budget!  had  not  been  long  at  the  head  of 
the  establishment  when  a  calamity  befell  it  which 
seemed  at  the  moment  ruinous.  A  Bristol  paper 
gave  the  following  account  at  the  time  : — 

"  Alarming  Fire. — At  about  half-past  seven  on 
Tuesday  evening,  considerable  alarm  was  felt 
throughout  this  city  by  the  appearance  upon  the 
lrorizon  of  a  conflagration,  evidently  of  immense 
extent,  the  heavens  being  completely  lit  up  with  it 
at  about  five  or  six  miles'  distance.  Large  crowds 
of  people,  in  consequence,  congregated  upon  Kings- 
down  and  the  various  hills,  and  conjecture  was  rife 
as  to  the  place  where  the  fire  was  raging.  The 
arrival  of  an  express  messenger  on  horseback  for 
the  attendance  of  the  engines  and  firemen  soon 
brought  the  intelligence  that  the  conflagration  had 
taken  place  upon  the  premises  of  the  Messrs.  II.  II. 
and  S.  Budgett,  at  Kingswood  Hill.  The  Messrs. 
Budgett  are  among  the  most  extensive  flour,  sugar, 
tea,  and  general  merchants  in  this  part  of  the  king- 
dom, and  are  well  known  throughout  England  for 
their  extensive  mercantile  transactions.  They  have 
several  establishments  in  Bristol,  but,  from  some 
motives  which  are  unknown  to  us,  have  always 
held  their  central  establishment  at  Kingswood  Hill. 
The  fire  was  discovered  by  one  of  the  men  in  their 
employment,  at  about  a  quarter-past  seven  o'clock, 
in  a  room  called  the  titler-room,  in  which  refined 
sugars  are  kept ;  and,  it  is  supposed,  originated  in 
one  of  the  flues  communicating  with  that  room. 
A   messenger,   as  we   have  already  said,   was  in- 


RISE   AND   PROGRESS.  193 

stantly  despatched  to  Bristol ;  and,  in  the  mean 
time,  the  alarm  spread  rapidly  through  the  village 
and  neighbourhood,  all  the  inhabitants  of  which 
immediately  went  to  assist  in  subduing  the  fire. 
Their  efforts,  it  was  hoped  at  first,  would  have 
been  successful ;  but,  in  a  few  minutes,  the  fire 
spread  in  a  most  alarming  manner,  and  speedily 
communicated  with  the  entire  range  of  warehouses. 
At  this  period  the  Norwich  Union  engine  arrived, 
and  played  on  the  fire ;  the  engines  of  the  other 
offices  also  speedily  arrived.  The  fire  in  the  ware- 
houses had,  however,  now  reached  so  great  a  height 
that  it  was  evident,  the  more  especially  considering 
the  combustible  materials  with  which  they  were 
filled,  that  their  total  destruction  was  inevitable; 
and  the  efforts  of  all,  therefore,  were  directed  to 
the  preservation  of  the  adjoining  dwelling-houses, 
upon  which  the  engines  played,  with  a  view  to  cut 
off  the  communication  with  the  burning  warehouses. 
These  efforts  were  happily  successful,  and  both  the 
dwelling-houses  and  stables  of  the  establishment, 
in  which  were  forty-seven  valuable  draught  horses, 
were  saved.  The  fire  in  the  warehouses  continued 
raging  until  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  it 
was  got  under ;  but  not  until  all  the  warehouses, 
the  counting-houses,  and  the  retail  shop  had  been 
completely  destroyed.  The  books  were,  however, 
fortunately  saved.  This  was  most  fortunate,  as 
their  loss  to  a  house  of  such  transactions  as  the 
Messrs.  Budgett  would  have  been  irretrievable. 
The  stock  consumed   consisted  of  refined  sugars, 


194  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

cheese,  coffee,  teas,  flour,  &c,  and  must  have 
amounted  to  several  thousand  pounds.  They  had 
just  imported  two  large  cargoes  of  fruit  and  a 
heavy  stock  of  sugars,  which  were,  however,  fortu- 
nately in  their  Bristol  warehouses.  The  Messrs. 
Budgett  are  insured  to  a  large  amount ;  £8,000  in 
the  Phoenix,  and  other  sums  in  various  offices." 

Beyond  the  sums  insured,  the  pecuniary  loss  did 
not  much  exceed  three  thousand  pounds.  The  next 
morning,  while  the  ruin  was  still  reeking,  a  circular 
went  forth  to  all  the  customers  who  were  expect- 
ing goods,  stating  that  a  fire  in  the  premises  had 
delayed  the  execution  of  their  orders,  but  that  on 
the  following  day  the  goods  should  be  despatched. 
It  had  for  some  time  been  necessary  to  have  a 
warehouse  in  Bristol ;  but  this  was  of  inconside- 
rable size  compared  with  the  demands  of  such  a 
business  as  they  had  to  carry  on.  Thither  Mr. 
Budgett  hastened;  he  at  once  concluded  an  en- 
gagement for  the  house  adjoining  the  one  already 
in  possession ;  all  energies  were  worked  ;  the  goods 
ordered  were  all  despatched  the  next  day ;  the  two 
houses  were  soon  made  one ;  the  business  was 
rapidly  organized  in  the  new  premises ;  and  these 
grew  and  grew  till  they  assumed  the  dimensions 
with  which  we  found  them  at  the  time  of  Mr. 
Budgett's  death.  The  fire,  instead  of  a  disaster, 
proved  eventually  to  be  a  great  boon.  It  had 
transferred  the  establishment  to  Bristol,  a  change 
involving  a  number  of  conspicuous  advantages. 
From  this  time  the  progress  was  amazingly  rapid ; 


RISE  AND   PROGRESS.  195 

the  internal  arrangements  were  gradually  perfected, 
the  system  of  business  began  to  be  better  under- 
stood, early  prejudices  and  animosities  considerably 
abated,  and  the  flow  of  prosperity  rose  higher  year 
by  year. 

While  so  rapidly  extending  his  business,  Mr. 
Budgett  had  much  improved  his  residence.  He 
had  filled  up  the  quarry,  the  scene  of  his  medita- 
tions on  the  happy  Sabbath  days  of  boyhood,  and 
turned  the  surface  into  gardens;  he  had  surround- 
ed his  house  with  extensive  grounds ;  and  he  had 
some  forty  or  fifty  acres  of  land,  in  farming  which 
he  took  great  delight,  and  upon  which  he  contrived 
to  find  employment  for  large  numbers  of  his  neigh- 
bours. An  old  and  tottering  man  Avho  had  been 
"  in  the  employ "  from  the  time  of  Mr.  Budgett's 
youth,  and  who  gloried  in  the  growth  of  the  esta- 
blishment as  if  it  had  been  his  own,  said  to  me,  in 
alluding  to  the  large  numbers  occasionally  employ- 
ed on  the  farm,  "  Yes ;  I  remember  when  there 
were  five  men  and  three  horses,  and  I  have  lived 
to  see  three  hundred  men  and  one  lmndred  horses." 

Mr.  Budgett  had  now  a  comfortable  mansion, 
spacious  grounds,  a  business  working  regularly  as  a 
chronometer,  paying  richly  as  a  miser  could  desire, 
and  a  family  all  that  was  fitted  to  make  a  Chris- 
tian father  glad.  He  stood  on  the  very  scene  of  his 
apprentice  toils,  of  his  early  mercantile  endeavours, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  very  people  who  had  known  him 
then,  and  who,  in  his  position,  now  beheld  a  most 
notable  example  of  the  Successful  Merchant. 


196  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

MASTER      AND      MEN. 

"  For  there  are  reciprocities  of  right,  which  no  creature  can 
gainsay." — Tuppek. 

The  feudal  time  is  gone;  the  feudal  tie  is  broken. 
Some  may  mourn  for  it ;  but  they  -will  never  bring 
it  back.  Baronial  castle  will  never  more  be  the 
centre  of  activity  and  protection  ;  baronial  pennant 
will  never  more  lead  out  the  neighbouring  hinds  at 
will.  The  sons  of  the  ancient  barons  are  still  the 
princes  of  the  people,  but  they  are  no  longer  their 
leaders.  Of  old,  the  noble  was  to  the  people  what 
the  commodore  was  "during  the  Avar"  to  the  mer- 
chant fleet  he  convoyed — the  defence  around  which 
they  clung,  the  director  to  whom  they  looked,  the 
leader  whom  they  followed.  Now  the  noble  is  to 
the  people  what  the  star  is  to  the  fleet,  a  bright 
exalted  spectator  of  their  low  and  distant  progress, 
who,  in  a  sphere  inaccessible  to  them,  has  a  share 
in  marking  out  their  destiny.  Direct  personal  in- 
tercourse with  active  masses  of  the  people,  the  noble 
has  none.  Doubtless  many  of  the  order  retain  a 
hold  on  the  population  of  their  ancestral  districts; 
but  that  population  is  scattered,  and  politically 
inert,  not  the  population  on  which  the  future 
career  of  the  nation  depends.     The.  hordes  which 


MASTER  AND   MEN.  197 

dwell  in  our  great  towns,  whose  passions  play 
under  constant  stimulus,  and  whose  movements 
tell  as  a  combination  of  levers,  they  are  the  people 
now;  they  are  the  hosts  of  England  with  whom 
our  national  character  is  identified,  and  by  whom 
our  national  course  is  mainly  determined.  Between 
those  and  the  aristocracy  there  is  neither  intercourse 
nor  sympathy. 

But  new  barons  have  arisen,  ruling  new  castles 
and  leading  new  bands.  The  baron  of  our  day  is 
the  manufacturer ;  the  castle,  the  mill ;  and  the  re- 
tainers, the  factory  troop.  Many  of  these  barons  are 
lot'tv  enough  for  any  rank  wherewith  either  Mam- 
mon or  imagination  may  invest  them.  If  some 
barons  of  old  could  reckon  a  thousand  spears, 
they  can  reckon  a  thousand  spindles.  If  the  one 
was  fain  to  watch  his  stalwart  yeomen  shooting  the 
feathered  arrow,  the  other  is  fain  to  watch  his  troop 
shooting1  the  nimble  shuttle.  The  mansions  of  the 
new  lords  are  far  more  luxuriously  adorned  than 
were  those  of  the  old ;  and  if  their  tables  are  less 
spacious,  they  are  abundantly  more  superb.  You 
may  think  of  these  new  barons  as  you  please,  but 
there  they  are,  and  well  awake  to  their  importance; 
quite  as  stately  as  the  sons  of  the  ancient  barons, 
though  not  quite  so  courtly ;  quite  as  high,  though 
not  quite  so  graceful ;  quite  as  sumptuous,  though 
not  quite  so  polished ;  quite  as  lordly,  though  not 
quite  so  gentlemanly ;  altogether  a  redoubtable 
array  of  purse-girded  potentates,  the  real  lords  of 
this  real  golden  age.     They  are  English  barons  of 


198  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

the  nineteenth  century.  It  is  around  their  castles 
the  people  cluster  ;  it  is  from  their  hand  the  people 
take  their  bread  ;  it  is  with  their  fortunes  the  people 
thrive  or  pine ;  it  is  at  their  bidding  the  people  sit 
down  amid  plenty,  or  go  out  to  struggle  •with  the 
world  for  food.  The  great  manufacturers  and  the 
great  merchants  are  now  our  only  feudal  powers. 
They  have  real  interests  involved  with  the  people, 
close  relations  with  them,  personal  contact,  and  per- 
sonal influence  over  their  temper  and  condition.  In 
their  persons  the  workman  meets  the  ranks  above 
him.  Their  influence  on  the  legislature  is  rapidly 
outstripping  that  of  their  more  noble  precursors,  and 
their  influence  on  the  people  is  far  more  direct,  con- 
tinuous, and  fruitful. 

Our  peace  in  the  future  little  depends  on  the  dis- 
persed population  of  those  districts  wherein  the  per- 
sonal influence  of  the  aristocracy  is  yet  considerable  ; 
but  it  does  most  closely  depend  on  those  aggrega- 
tions of  stirring  men  over  whom  our  commercial 
magnates  preside.  From  these  we  have  to  dread  the 
hurricanes,  the  earthquakes,  and  the  eruptions.  It 
is  important  in  this  day  that  English  lords  should 
be  wise  and  magnanimous ;  but,  perhaps,  it  is  still 
more  important  that  English  masters  should  be 
considerate  and  winning.  We  are  not  much  in 
danger  of  cruelty :  we  are  greatly  in  danger  of  in- 
difference. FeAv  would  do  their  men  harm,  would 
tamper  with  their  rights,  would  enforce  anything 
manifestly  injurious.  All  would  pay  the  men  re- 
gularly, punctually,   and    in    full — of  course    they 


MASTER  AND   MEN.  199 

would,  just  as  they  would  oil  the  machinery,  be- 
cause if  they  did  not  all  would  soon  be  at  a  stand. 
But  the  cases  are  many  wherein  the  machinery  is 
regularly  oiled,  the  men  regularly  paid,  and  the 
master  lias  just  as  much  communication  with  the 
one  as  the  other.  He  knows  what  the  one  does 
and  what  the  other  does.  If  the  one  breaks  a 
wheel,  he  sends  for  an  engineer  ;  if  the  other  breaks 
a  bone,  he  sends  for  a  doctor.  If  the  one  is  worn 
out  it  is  dismissed  ;  if  the  other  is  worn  out  it  is  dis- 
missed. Both  are  very  useful,  and,  perhaps,  the 
master  can  tell  you  the  name  of  both — of  the  ma- 
chinery, always ;  of  the  man,  sometimes. 

Ah  !  ye  lords  of  cotton,  wool,  and  silk,  of  linen, 
lace,  and  hose,  ye  smile,  well  pleased,  when  one  al- 
ludes to  the  large  number  of  men  in  your  employ- 
ment. You  like  us  to  know  that  you  have  "  more 
hands  than  any  one  in  the  town."  Well,  we  must 
not  chide  you  much  for  that  smile ;  we  all  look 
pleasantly  on  our  own  importance ;  it  is  ever 
comely.  But  of  all  those  men  in  your  employment, 
how  many  receive  a  friendly  word  from  you  in  the 
course  of  a  year  ?  How  many  ever  see  you  within 
their  door  ?  How  many  could  tell  how  kindly  you 
inquired  for  their  wives  or  children  when  unwell, 
how  you  called  to  see  themselves  when  laid  up  at 
home,  how  your  wife  or  daughter  brought  them 
something  nice  ?  How  many  of  them  have  ever 
heard  from  you  a  hearty  word  of  good  advice, 
urging  them  to  be  thrifty  and  push  on  ?  With 
how  many  have  you  kindly  reasoned  when   they 


200  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

have  been  foolish  or  unfaithful  ?  How  many  have 
you  put  on  their  guard  as  to  the  stuff  they  read,  the 
way  they  spend  their  idle  hours,  the  company  they 
keep,  or  the  habits  they  form  ?  How  many  have 
you  helped  out  of  difficulties  of  their  own  making, 
pointing  out  to  them  their  folly,  and  endeavouring 
to  train  them  to  do  better  ?  To  how  many  have 
you  personally  given  a  present  of  some  wholesome 
book  ?  How  many  have  you  asked  how  they  spend 
their  Sabbath,  or  counselled  as  to  the  ever-living 
soul  that  is  in  them  ? 

Ah  !  some  of  you  never  thought  of  sustaining  any 
personal  relation  to  your  men.  Your  relation  is 
merely  commercial;  all  you  have  thought  of  is,  to 
obtain  their  proper  quota  of  labour,  and  to  give  y<  >u  r 
proper  equivalent  of  pay  ;  there  your  relation  termi- 
nates. As  to  cultivating  any  sympathies  with  them; 
it  has  not  entered  your  head.  You  "do  justly  by 
them,"  and  what  more  can  be  looked  for  I  Yet, 
after  being  in  your  establishment  for  years  and  yon 
all  the  time  "  doing  justly  by  them,"  they  do  not 
feel  either  affection  or  respect,  and  you  know  it. 
You  know  that  if  they  saw  you  in  a  difficulty  they 
would  hardly  move  to  assist  you,  and  would  make 
no  scruple  of  going  off  and  leaving  you  to  sink  if 
they  could  improve  themselves  ever  so  little.  5  on 
and  they  are  eating  of  the  same  loaf;  that  which 
constitutes  your  provision  constitutes  theirs  ;  yet  no 
fellow-feeling  exists  between  you.  They  and  you 
stand  in  a  relation  exceedingly  close,  and  have 
mutual  interests  very  important.     Th<-y  are  hands 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  201 

to  you  ;  you  are  head  to  them.  Without  them, 
you  are  helpless  as  a  head  without  hands  ;  without 
you  they  are  helpless  as  hands  without  a  head.  You 
plan,  they  perform  ;  both  are  served.  Surely,  then, 
those  who  are  so  connected  ought  not  to  be 
strangers;  between  them  some  cordiality  should 
exist.  Their  relation  should  not  be  merely  mechani- 
cal ;  there  should  be  heart  in  it,  warm  heart  and 
fellowship. 

To  cultivate  affection  is  the  duty  of  the  stronger. 
The  inferior  finds  it  hard  to  make  approaches ;  from 
the  superior  they  come  with  grace  and  effect.  It 
is  often  most  chilling  to  find  how  carelessly  a  master 
will  speak  of  the  total  want  of  attachment  his  men 
display  ;  and  how  unsuspectingly  he  sets  it  all  down 
to  their  unsympathetic  nature.  But  what  pains  has 
he  taken  to  gain  their  hearts  ;  that  is,  what  pains 
has  he  taken  to  make  them  happy  ?  Be  assured 
that  human  nature  is  human  nature  though  in  fus- 
tian or  in  frieze  ;  and  patient  kindness,  if  it  fail  on 
some,  will  win  the  majority.  He  who  declaims  on 
the  unloving  and  reckless  character  of  his  men, 
tells  two  tales — one  of  the  men,  another  of  the  mas- 
ter. There  are  some  workmen  whose  master  could 
not  honestly  charge  them  with  being  indifferent  to 
his  interests ;  but  that  master  is  one  whom  the 
men  could  not  charge  with  being  indifferent  to 
theirs.  Be  assured  that  it  is  the  superior  who  is 
to  seek  affection  ;  every  master  should  hold  him- 
self bound  to  watch  for  the  happiness  of  his  men, 
and  in  seeking  their  happiness  he  will  gain  their 


202  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

hearts.  Every  man  in  his  establishment  is  a  par- 
taker of  his  efforts  and  is  fed  of  his  gains ;  he  ought 
to  be  part  of  his  care.  But  you  say  you  have  no 
time  to  attend  to  them.  What  does  that  mean  ? 
Why  precisely  that  if  you  devote  all  your  time  to 
your  own  interests,  you  cannot  devote  a  part  of  it 
to  theirs  ;  that  if  you  spend  every  available  hour  to 
make  yourself  rich,  you  have  no  hour  to  spend  to 
make  your  men  happy.  That  is  plain  enough. 
"But,  business  must  be  done."  Yes,  it  must  be 
done  ;  but  no  duty  binds  you  to  undertake  so  much 
business  that  you  can  do  no  office  of  Christian  kind- 
ness. Far  better  that  part  of  the  business  should 
be  done  by  some  one  else,  than  that  all  the  charity 
should  be  neglected  by  you. 

As  at  present  existing,  the  relation  of  master  and 
men  is  loose,  changeable,  material.  The  man  works 
for  a  certain  firm  just  as  he  rides  in  a  certain  train, 
because  it  happens  to  suit  him ;  but  he  feels  no 
more  affection  for  the  masters  and  no  more  interest 
in  their  prosperity  than  he  does  in  the  directors  of 
the  railway  and  their  dividend.  The  firm  takes  up 
men  just  as  a  train  takes  up  passengers.  The  con- 
cern needs  them ;  but  whence  they  came,  and 
whither  they  go,  or  at  what  point  of  the  journey 
they  part,  arc  matters  of  no  interest.  It  is  full  time 
that  masters  as  a  class  did  besfin  in  earnest,  to  do 
what  some  have  long  been  doing — attempt  to  create 
between  themselves  and  their  men  a  close  and  per- 
manent connexion  and  a  moral  tie.  It  is  high 
time  that  masters   learned   that  business  has  two 


MASTEE   AND   MEN.  203 

sides, — duty  as  well  as  interest.  They  are  ready 
enough  to  tell  landlords  that  property  lias  its  duties 
as  well  its  its  rights  ;  and  they  have  just  cause  to  do 
so,  for  the  thing  is  true.  But,  it  is  not  true  of 
landed  property  alone,  not  of  the  relation  of  land- 
lord and  tenant  alone,  but  of  all  kinds  of  property 
and  all  kinds  of  lordship.  The  master  has  his 
duties  as  well  as  his  rights,  and  they  are  not  done 
when  the  wages  are  paid.  That  is  just  oiling  the 
machinery — no  more.  It  is  a  purely  material  act ; 
without  it  you  would  have  all  in  a  blaze.  It  is  done 
to  keep  the  concern  going,  not  to  elevate  or  bless  the 
men.  Now  undoubtedly  the  master  ought  to  con- 
sider it  part  of  his  business  to  make  his  men  happy, 
ought  to  spend  hours  and  energies  and  sums  for  this 
one  end,  ought  to  labour  at  it,  and  sustain  dis- 
appointments in  it,  and  brave  discouragements,  and 
feel  how  hard  it  is  to  do  good,  and  persist  in  doing 
it  till  at  last  he  saw  that  he  had  not  laboured  in 
vain.  It  is  a  proud  thing  for  a  master  to  show  his 
beautiful  engine-room,  clean  as  a  parlour,  his  bright 
machinery,  his  admirable  textures,  his  vast  produc- 
tion. He  has  a  right  to  take  an  interest  in  all  these  ; 
and  if  conscious  that  other  things  were  right,  we 
should  take  a  most  lively  interest  in  them  also, 
share  his  pleasure,  rejoice  in  his  success,  and  pour 
our  honest  blessing  on  the  labour  of  his  hands. 
But  it  is  not  always  one  can  do  so.  True,  gnat 
care  has  been  taken  about  the  engines  ; — what  has 
been  done  for  the  mind,  heart,  and  life  of  the  engi- 
neers?    The  "mules"  and  "jennies,"  the  rollers 


204  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

and  looms,  are  all  in  perfect  trim,  the  gear  rims 
smoothly,  the  produce  is  unblamable,  a  world  of 
diligent  application  has  been  spent  to  bring  the 
work  to  this  perfection ;  but  what  has  been  done 
for  the  mind,  heart,  and  life  of  the  workers  ?  Some 
masters  there  are,  who  have  learned  the  lesson  of 
their  duty  and  follow  it  with  a  cheerful  heart.  As 
I  write  some  rise  up  to  my  memory.  I  think  of 
their  schools,  the  plans  of  improvement,  the  care 
for  the  comfort  of  their  men's  houses,  the  training 
of  the  children,  the  effort  to  spread  good  feeling  and 
good  living,  the  attention  to  the  soul's  welfare  :  and 
as  I  think  of  these  men,  my  heart  within  me  blesses 
them.  Go  on,  my  friend,  go  on  and  be  heart}' : 
your  work  is  often  thankless,  as  are  all  good  works 
in  this  bad  world,  but  keep  to  it  nevertheless. 
Doing  good  is  no  idle  enterprise;  its  difficulties 
abound,  but  its  fruits  are  not  doubtful. 

The  French  revolution  of  1848  has  proved  an 
abortion;  but  the  parent  of  that  abortion  lives,  and 
still  threatens  society  with  pains  and  travail.  So- 
cialism, whence  it  sprang,  and  by  which  it  sank,  is 
capable  of  assuming  a  thousand  forms,  and  follow- 
ing a  thousand  banners.  It  is  abroad  in  England 
now,  wearing  innocent  veils,  and  using  creditable 
names.  It  has  won  over  honest,  forcible  men,  who 
fight  its  battles  with  heart  and  valour.  It  is  raising 
under  English  forms  the  same  feelings  it  raised  in 
France.  It  is  baptizing  with  Christian  nanus 
dogmas  which  elsewhere  seek  no  such  consecra- 
tion.    It  is  spreading  Farther,  deeper,  swifter  than 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  205 

most  of  you  masters  imagine.  It  is  reaching  our 
workmen,  enlisting  and  combining  its  soldiers,  lay- 
ing up  its  ammunition  for  another  day.  Some  of 
its  agents  dream'  of  new  eras  of  brotherhood  and 
equality ;  while,  in  good  truth,  it  is  preparing  a 
time  when  the  distinction  between  men  shall  not 
lie  in  richer  and  poorei-,  master  and  servant,  but  in 
assailant  and  defender,  in  victor  and  vanquished. 
You  masters  have  no  fear  of  socialism  in  England, 
and  most  certainly  you  have  abundant  guarantees 
against  it,  if  duly  improved ;  but  mauy  of  you  are 
too  busy  to  read,  too  careless  about  your  men  to 
know  what  they  read,  too  much  strangers  to  their 
habits  and  their  haunts  to  know  what  they  discuss 
and  what  they  hear.  I  tell  you  it  is  quite  time  for 
you  to  be  alert.  Sleep  a  few  years  longer,  and  you 
may  be  awoke  by  thunder.  Thoughts  are  spread- 
ing, things  are  doing,  well  calculated  to  gain  the 
ear  of  the  workman,  and  well  calculated  to  throw 
society  into  agonies.  Were  it  only  to  save  a  class 
it  would  not  be  worth  while  to  raise  an  alarm.  No 
good  man  would  seek  to  protect  a  few  in  absorbing 
that  which  might  properly  be  distributed  among 
the  many.  Did  I  see  in  Socialism  unquestionable 
benefits  for  the  men,  as  all  see  unquestionable  ruin 
for  the  masters,  why  then,  for  me,  the  masters  might 
repose  till  they  found  the  irruption  begun.  But 
that  system,  though  potent  to  impoverish  the  af- 
fluent, is  powerless  to  enrich  the  poor,  and  must 
reduce  all  classes  to  destitution ;  cripple,  hamper, 
bewilder,  and  chafe,  till  society  perishes  in  confu- 


206  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

sion,  or  finds  escape  in  a  return  to  the  laws  of  free 
commerce.  While  some  imagine  thev  are  seeking 
the  welfare  of  the  workman  by  framing  new 
schemes  and  shapes  of  society,  o'thers  who  see  in 
those  schemes  and  shapes  an  earnest  of  hunger, 
and  battle,  and  military  tyranny,  ought  to  urge  on 
those  attainable  and  Christian  ameliorations  of  the 
relations  between  men  and  their  masters,  whereby 
a  healthy  state  of  feeling  would  be  induced  which 
would  be  unfavourable  to  political  epidemics.  How 
much  of  the  country's  peace  depends  on  the  bear- 
ing of  masters  no  one  can  tell.  If  men  see  them- 
selves used,  but  not  valued ;  employed,  but  not  im- 
proved ;  necessary,  but  not  noticed,  they  will 
inevitably  become  sour,  and  ready  to  embrace  any 
theory  about  the  hostility  of  capital  to  labour  and 
the  community  of  goods.  Duty  cannot  be  neglect- 
ed without  harm  to  those  who  practise  and  those 
who  suffer  the  neglect.  Masters  ought  to  take 
pains — patient,  costly,  systematic  pains — for  the 
happiness  of  their  men.  If  they  will  neglect  this 
staring  duty,  and  perform  for  their  men  only  the 
one  unavoidable  service  of  payment  when  pay-day 
comes,  how  can  they  expect  the  men  to  feel  to- 
wards them  anything  but  disregard  inspired  by 
their  indifference,  and  envy  inspired  by  their 
wealth  ? 

In  Mr.  Budgett's  conduct  towards  his  men,  no- 
thing Mas  more  prominent  than  a  rigid  enforce- 
ment of  discipline.  Both  he  and  his  brother  were 
fond  of  system,  and  had  taken  much  pains  to  bring 


MASTER  AND   MEN.  207 

the  whole  business  under  a  code  of  laws,  and  to 
instruct  each  man  precisely  in  the  duty  pertaining 
to  his  department.  The  laws  were  ever  under- 
going improvement,  but  they  were  never  suffered 
to  be  broken,  A  rule  in  force  was  sacred  ;  no  ex- 
cuse would  be  accepted.  A  breach  of  law  was  a 
fault  to  be  confessed,  and  whoever  repeatedly  dis- 
obeyed any  rule  whatever  was  inexorably  dismissed. 
With  those  who  gave  evidence  of  talent,  Mr.  Bud- 
gett  would  take  considerable  pains — training  a 
young  buyer  by  his  own  side  in  the  market,  ac- 
companying a  young  traveller  on  his  journey,  or 
giving  a  warehouseman  or  clerk  frequent  lessons 
in  the  system  they  were  expected  to  pursue.  When 
he  had  thus  educated  a  man  up  to  his  satisfaction, 
he  would  place  him  in  a  post  of  considerable  re- 
sponsibility, and  take  great  pleasure  in  his  success. 

To  many,  especially  to  young  men,  a  master 
whose  discipline  is  lax  seems  a  much  kinder  master 
than  one  who  holds  them  to  rule  and  duty.  What- 
ever may  be  the  intention  of  such  a  master,  his 
influence  is  cruel.  A  more  serious  injury  cannot 
be  inflicted  on  a  young  man  than  is  inflicted  by  the 
indulgences  and  negligences  of  a  master  who  does 
not  maintain  discipline.  Rules  should  be  reason- 
able, duties  moderate,  hours  considerate ;  but  if  the 
master  would  do  his  duty,  he  must  train  every  man 
who  passes  under  his  hands  to  unflinching  habits 
of  order,  punctuality,  and  obedience.  He  ought 
not  to  let  any  man  dilly-dally,  or  go  forth  from  his 
instructions  incapable  of  making  his  way  among 


208  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

able  and  well-taught  men.  Of  all  who  have  been 
in  Mr.  Budgett's  employment,  I  do  not  suppose 
that  one  could  charge  a  failure  in  life  on  the  habits 
acquired  there;  while  some,  who  are  now  in  cir- 
cumstances of  comfort  and  respect,  have  told  me, 
with  a  gush  of  feeling,  what  pains  he  had  taken  to 
train  them  up  to  the  habits-  which  have  made  them 
what  they  are. 

A  disciplinarian  who  wants  to  form  men  to  a 
standard  existing  in  his  own  mind,  is  ever  on  the 
watch  for  men  after  his  model.  This  was  Mr. 
Budgett's  case;  he  ever  wanted  men  capable  of 
seizing  and  accomplishing  his  purposes.  "  He  has 
no  head,"  would  be  his  rapid  sentence  on  a  man 
with  some  good  points.  A  man  who  would  waste 
or  dilly-dally  was  to  him  intolerable.  His  favour- 
ite formula  of  qualification  was,  "  Tact,  push,  and 
principle;" — the  three  things,  indubitably,  which 
form  your  proper  man  of  mark  in  trade.  For 
them  he  was  constantly  on  the  look-out;  and  when 
a  man  came  under  his  eye  in  whom  he  discerned 
them,  he  would  be  most  anxious  to  add  him  to  his 
staff.  Without  tact  and  push,  a  man  of  principle 
may  be  very  good  for  many  things,  but  not  for 
business;  and  without  principle,  tact  and  push  are 
only  powers  to  do  evil.  Speaking  of  a  sharp,  stir- 
ling  man  who  would  lie  or  play  tricks,  he  would 
say,  "  What  is  the  use  of  a  tub  that  is  tight  all 
round,  but  has  a  hole  in  the  bottom  ?"  One  often 
hears  of  masters,  honourable  men,  who  would  not 
do  an  unhandsome  thing  in  their  proper  persons, 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  209 

who  yet  look  very  kindly  on  men  of  tact  and  push 
who  show  a  lack  of  principle  only  at  the  expense 
of  customers.  Mr.  Budgett  would  see  that  no  man 
wasted  his  goods  or  time,  that  none  gave  over- 
weight, or  sold  carelessly,  or  in  any  way  damaged 
his  interests ;  but  he  would  insist  that  they  should 
do  justice  to  all.  Masters,  be  assured  that  no  bless- 
ing will  come  with  the  smart  salesman  who  can 
cozen  the  public  and  tell  fibs  with  facility :  he  is  a 
"  tub  with  a  hole  in  the  bottom,"  and  you  had  bet- 
ter be  without  him.  Employers  may  be  quite 
assured  that  it  is  not  enough  for  them  to  abstain 
from  telling  a  man  to  lie  or  cheat ;  they  may  lay 
tasks  upon  him  which  can  hardly  be  discharged  by 
fair  means,  they  may  show  an  avidity  for  results, 
and  an  indifference  as  to  means,  which  act  upon  all 
but  men  of  stiff  integrity  as  a  certain  lure  to  foul 
play.  Gentlemen  of  honour,  who  would  blush  to 
be  accused  of  an  unfairness,  have  dozens  of  ill-com- 
plexioned  doings  in  their  warehouses  every  day, 
and  that  perforce  of  their  haste  to  do  an  immense 
amount  of  business,  and  of  their  lauding  success  in 
their  men  without  any  attention  to  principle.  If 
you  have  a  conscience,  if  you  would  really  rather 
be  without  money  than  have  money  stained  with 
dishonour,  then  I  can  assure  you  of  what  you 
might  know  very  well  yourself,  if  you  were  much 
awake, — that  you  have  something  to  do  to  keep 
soiled  money  out  of  your  store.  You  must  not 
leave  to  your  men  to  deceive  or  not,  just  as  they 
like ;    you   must,  in  very  great  earnest,  and  very 

14 


210  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

often,  too,  tell  them  that  no  man  in  your  employ- 
ment shall  practise  anything  which  you  would  not 
defend  before  God  and  man. 

While  Mr.  Budgett  was  constantly  on  the  alert 
for  men  after  his  own  heart,  he  had,  as  we  stated 
long  ago,  a  remarkable  discernment  of  character. 
One  instance  I  may  give,  out  of  many.  A  friend  of 
his,  a  grocer,  told  me  that  on  many  occasions  when 
he  passed  through  his  shop,  he  would  make  remarks 
upon  the  young  men  whom  he  had  seen  behind  the 
counter,  saying  that  one  was  not  worth  his  salt,  and 
that  another  would  do  well ;  and  scarcely  even  was 
the  estimate  thus  formed  at  a  glance  erroneous. 
Once  he  said,  after  just  passing  through  the  shop, 
"  Where  did  you  get  that  young  man  ?"  The  an- 
swer was  given. 

"  I  would  not  keep  him  for  a  day." 
"  Why  ?     He  is  a  very  clever  young  man." 
"  Yes,  he  is  clever  enough  ;  but  he  is  a  rogue." 
"Well,    certainly   I   have   seen  nothing  wrong 
about  him,  and  I  never  yet  saw  his  equal  behind 
the  counter." 

"  Very  well ;  I  tell  you  I  would  not  keep  him  an 
hour,  and  you  will  find  it  out  yet." 

"  But  I  can't  dismiss  him  without  cause,  and  he 
has  given  me  no  cause." 

He  insisted  to  the  last  on  his  view  of  the  young 
man,  and,  after  leaving,  told  a  mutual  friend  that  a 
very  improper  young  man  was  in  such  a  one's 
shop— he  was  sure  of  it.  His  discernment  was  so 
well  known,  that  the  young  shopman  had  now  his 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  211 

master's  eye  upon  liini  with  restless  vigilance.  It 
was  not  long  before  he  was  detected  stealing  money. 
He  was  lodged  in  the  jail  at  Shepton-Mallet.  On 
the  day  when  the  trial  was  to  come  on,  the  master 
w  as  there.  A  solicitor  came  to  tell  him  that  a  sister 
of  Mr.  Smith  had  come  down  from  London,  a  very 
respectable  married  woman,  near  her  confinement 
and  in  great  agony  at  her  brother's  disgrace, — in 
fact,  so  excited  that  he  quite  feared  the  consequences 
if  the  trial  went  on  ;  moreover  she  was  a  Wesleyan, 
to  which  denomination  the  prosecutor  belonged, 
and  she  begged  an  interview.  They  met :  she  was 
respectable,  prepossessing,  and  well-spoken ;  her 
condition  was  touching,  and  she  talked  touchingly 
of  her  poor  unhappy  brother.  The  heart  of  the 
prosecutor  was  almost  won  ;  but  something  aroused 
his  suspicion.  He  put  a  question  or  two  as  to  her 
brother  and  the  family :  the  tale  did  not  precisely 
fit.  He  put  one  or  two 'questions  more :  the  interest- 
ing Wesleyan  sister  of  Mr.  Smith,  appeared  simply 
as  a  clever  partner  in  a  fraud.  Mr.  Smith  was  sen- 
tenced to  a  term  of  imprisonment.  On  the  very 
week  of  his  release  he  obtained  two  situations  in 
Plymouth  and  lost  both  through  dishonesty.  Then 
his  old  employer  heard  no  more  of  him  till  he  was 
summoned  to  Coventry  to  identify  a  Mr.  Smith  who 
was  there  awaiting  trial.  He  had  been  in  the  ser- 
vice of  a  grocer  there,  and  had  managed  daily,  for  a 
long  time,  to  send  off  a  hamper  of  goods  to  London 
by  railway  ;  and  when  the  police  traced  his  store  it 
amounted  to  two  wagon  loads. 


212  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

What  he  did  not  see  at  a  glance  he  would  soon 
find  out  in  conversation.  His  power  of  eliciting 
from  a  person  all  that  enabled  him  to  tell  precisely 
what  they  were  and  what  their  history,  was  very  re- 
markable. A  young  man  is  now  in  the  employ- 
ment of  one  of  his  friends  whom  Mr.  Budgett  was 
requested  to  see  before  he  was  engaged.  He  per- 
ceived that  Mr.  Budgett  was  aAvare  of  the  reason 
why  he  had  left  his  former  situation,  and  as  he  had 
obtained  from  his  late  employers  a  promise  that  they 
would  not  state  anything  on  the  point,  he  was  dis- 
pleased and  wrote  to  reproach  them  with  a  breach 
of  agreement.  The  fact  was  that  Mr.  Budgett  had 
discovered  the  matter  in  conversation,  without  the 
other  being  conscious  of  it. 

He  would  not  be  imposed  upon.  If  a  man  was 
in  fault  and  frankly  confessed,  nothing  could  be  more 
cheerful  than  his  forgiveness ;  but  when  once  he 
saw  the  least  disposition  to  equivocate,  all  his  powers 
were  called  forth  to  reach  the  truth,  and  the  truth 
he  would  reach.  He  Avas  as  persevering  as  he  was 
quick ;  as  careless  of  wounding  a  man's  pride  as  he 
would  be  prompt  to  heal  any  worthy  sorrow.  Into 
the  man's  heart  he  would  get,  no  matter  how  long 
it  took  him,  by  questions  directed  this  way  or  that 
way,  near  the  point  or  away  from  it.  In  proportion 
to  the  dissimulation  manifested  his  displeasure  would 
rise,  and  if  the  case  were  really  bad  his  rebuke  would 
be  tremendous.  But  the  man  who  showed  an  open 
heart  always  found  a  generous  consideration  above 
what  he  would  have  thought  possible. 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  213 

This  determination  not  to  be  imposed  upon  he 
carried  out  everywhere,  with  men,  neighbours,  and 
customers.  Ever  indulgent  to  an  acknowledged 
fault,  he  was  ever  most  inexorable  against  an  attempt 
at  imposture.  Men  who  will  not  be  imposed  upon 
always  make  themselves  enemies.  Many  will  not 
forgive  him  who  defeats  them  in  an  attempt  to  play 
fovd  ;  they  will  represent  him  in  all  bad  lights, — as 
hard,  heartless,  and  so  on.  It  is  one  thing  to  for- 
give a  wrong  when  it  is  done  to  you ;  it  is  another 
to  permit  a  man  to  do  a  wrong  with  your  eyes  open. 
It  is  a  Christian  duty  to  repay  the  man  who  has 
done  you  evil  with  good ;  but  it  is  no  duty  at  all 
when  you  see  a  man  intending  to  do  wrong  to  shut 
your  eyes  and  let  him  do  it :  by  stopping  him  there 
you  may  save  him  thereafter.  No  kind  of  imposture 
so  roused  the  ire  of  Mr.  Budgett  as  when  a  man  put 
on  a  profession  of  religion  with  any  left-handed  de- 
sign. His  well-known  character  exposed  him  to 
attempts  of  this  kind ;  but  woe  to  the  caitiff  whom 
he  caught  at  it; — his  ears  heard  plain  words,  and 
words  of  fire.  In  the  case  of  the  vinegar  maker  we 
have  already  seen  with  what  force  he  would  stamp 
on  that  reptile, — the  stealthiest,  the  slimiest,  the 
most  poisonous,  the  most  loathsome  of  all  the  reptile 
race, — who  would  make  merchandise  of  religion. 
Easy,  undiscerning  Christians  who  can  be  quickly 
practised  upon,  are  great  favourites  with  people  who 
require  such  subjects ;  but  while  we  suspect  no  man 
without  cause,  and  pardon  all  men  without  reserve, 
we  should  not  invite  deception,  but  exert  ourselves 


214  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MEKCHANT. 

to  bind  every  one  by  the  rule  of  right.  Every  reli- 
gious man  should  endeavour  to  drive  fraud  and  de- 
ceit out  of  the  world,  hrst  in  his  own  dealings, 
secondly  in  the  dealings  of  those  who  act  in  his 
name,  then  in  the  dealings  of  all  mankind  :  but  let 
him  see  that  he  begins  at  home. 

On  this  point  of  discipline  many  young  men  are 
apt  to  mistake  masters,  and  to  think  that  religious 
character  is  not  prized  because  they  see  a  man  in- 
different to  religion  often  advanced  before  one  who 
consistently  professes  it.  But,  in  business,  men  must 
be  estimated  by  their  business  attainments.  If  two 
bootmakers  serve  you,  and  the  one  gives  you  a  better 
boot  than  the  other,  you  cannot  help  saying  he  is 
the  better  bootmaker,  even  though  the  other  may 
be  the  better  man.  So  in  two  salesmen ;  if  one  is 
apt,  adroit,  and  successful,  and  the  other  less  so,  the 
master  cannot  help  seeing  that  the  successful  one  is 
the  better  salesman,  even  though  the  other  must  be 
considered  the  better  man.  Young  men  ought  not 
to  expect  that  piety  alone  should  improve  their  posi- 
tion in  a  house,  except  as  it  forms  them  to  better 
habits,  and  ought  to  concede  to  others  all  the  supe- 
riority they  may  happen  to  possess.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  masters  should  take  good  care  that  the 
honest  and  conscientious  man  does  not  see  another 
raised  above  him  just  because  he  uses  unfair  arts 
and  thereby  secures  sales  which  could  not  be  effected 
by  truth-telling.  Masters  should  make  up  their 
minds  to  lose  all  that  sharp  subordinates  might  gain 
by  unjustifiable  means,  and  to  set  their  faces  against 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  215 

all  such  practices ;  and  we  may  assure  them  again, 
that  if  they  are  not  to  pocket  money  got  by  such 
means,  they  must  be  careful  to  mark  a  man  who 
will  lie  or  cheat  in  order  to  effect  sales,  as  they  are 
careful  to  mark  one  who  fails  to  sell  plentifully. 
No  blessing  is  with  the  unscrupulous  though  clever 
servant,  and  every  honest  master  ought  to  make  him 
feel  that  he  believes  it,  and  that  he  values  principle 
and  uprightness  more  than  mere  tact.  The  man  of 
tact  and  push  without  principle  is  a  cask  of  P.  D., 
and  ought  not  to  be  suffered. 

One  or  two  cases  show  his  determination  to  de- 
tect and  get  rid  of  men  he  could  not  trust,  and  at 
the  same  time  show  his  benevolence  in  a  light  almost 
amusing.  There  was  a  tree  whereof  the  fruit  was 
very  fugitive.  The  man  he  suspected  "  never 
touched,"  no  one  touched ;  yet  away  and  away  went 
the  fruit.  He  made  a  present  of  the  fruit  on  the 
tree  to  the  party  suspected,  and  thenceforth  it  stayed 
quite  safely.  His  point  was  gained  ;  he  "  had  found 
it."  Another  man  and  his  wife  were  suspected  of 
petty  pilfering  about  the  farm.  Proof  was  long  im- 
possible :  at  length  a  discovery  of  potatoes  secreted 
set  suspicion  on  foot  anew.  Neither  man  nor  wife 
would  confess.  Another  woman  was  somehow  con- 
nected with  the  matter :  he  took  the  two  women, 
placed  them  in  different  rooms,  interrogated  them 
separately,  passed  from  the  one  to  the  other,  com- 
pared their  statements,  and  elicited  a  confession  from 
the  second  woman.  But  the  principal  one  was 
proof  against  all  his  tact :  she  and  her  husband  re- 


216  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

ceived   orders    to  leave  the  premises  immediately. 
But  he  wished  them  to  have  the  means  of  living 
honestly  if  they  would ;    and,  in  Kingswood,  any 
one  who  has  a  horse  may  do  so  by  carting,  or,  as  the 
phrase  is,  "  hauling  "  coals  to  Bristol.     In  dismissing 
them,  therefore,  he  gave  the  man  a  horse.     The 
wife,  little  moved  by  this  generosity,  raised  an  outcry 
about  the  hardship  of  being  turned  away,  and  de- 
manded, "  What  is  the  use  of  a  horse  without  a 
cart  ?"     Mr.  Budgett  reasoned   with  her,  told  her 
how  another  master  might  have  prosecuted  them ; 
but  her  mood  was  unchangeable.     "  It  is  very  hard 
to  be  turned  away ;  and  what  is  a  poor  man  to  do 
with  a  horse  without  a  cart?"     He  reproved  her 
again ;  but  he  gave  them  a  cart.     The  ingratitude 
of  the  poor  is  constantly  urged   as   a  reason  for 
neglecting  them.     The  dishonest  and  the  idle  are 
ungrateful ;  but  as  for  the  honest  industrious  poor, 
it  will  be  found  that  real  service  always  meets  from 
them  a  hearty  and  a  long-continued  thankfulness. 
Some  are  astonished  how  their  great  kindness  be- 
gets so  little  gratitude  ;  others  have  been  astonished 
that  little  kindness  begot  so  much. 

A  person  in  Mr.  Budgett's  employment  gave  him 
dissatisfaction.  He  felt  he  could  no  longer  confide 
in  him,  and  when  that  was  the  case  with  any  man 
about  him  he  could  not  be  happy;  he  dismissed 
him.  The  man  took  his  revenge  by  going  to  the 
houses  with  which  Mr.  Budgett  had  accounts  and 
causing  a  run  for  payment,  as  we  saw  in  the  last 
chapter.     Sometime  after  he  hoard  that and 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  2lT 

his  family  were  in  great  destitution  ;  they  had  been 
away  from  the  neighbourhood  for  a  time,  but  had 
returned.  Mr.  Budgett  went  to  see  them  accom- 
panied by  a  friend :  the  house  was  in  a  miserable 
state,  the  garden  was  desolate,  neither  meat  nor 
bread  seemed  to  be  within  the  door,  and  two  fine 
boys  were  lying  in  bed  because  they  had  no  clothes. 
Mr.  Budgett  at  once  ordered  meat  from  the  butcher, 
bread  from  the  baker,  sent  groceries,  sent  a  tailor 
to  clothe  the  children,  hired  a  man  to  till  the  gar- 
den, and  gave  them  an  allowance  of  twelve  shillings 
per  week  till  the  father  of  the  family  should  find 
employment.  But  he  had  no  "  push,"  and  found 
no  employment.  He  soon  applied  to  be  taken 
back  :  Mr.  Budgett  refused.  He  applied  again  ; 
then  Mr.  Budgett  consented,  but  only  with  a  salary 
far  below  what  he  had  enjoyed  before,  and  on  con- 
dition that  he  should  look  out  for  another  situation. 
Every  week  he  set  down  to  the  credit  of  the  man, 
in  a  private  ledger,  some  twelve  shillings,  which  he 
thought  was  about  the  difference  between  Avhat  he 
was  paying  him  and  what  his  services  would  be  worth 
should  he  prove  worthy  of  confidence.  He  did  all 
he  could  to  make  him  trustworthy,  and  even  be- 
came a  teetotaller  to  induce  him  to  follow  his  ex- 
ample.     At  length,  however,  both  his  confidence 

and  his  patience  had  gone ;  he  called into 

his  private   office   and  told  him   they  must  part; 

"  But  Mr. ,  I   will   give  your   family   fifty 

pounds  in  weekly  pay  while  you  are  seeking  em- 
ployment, and  I  am  assured  of  it" 


218  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

"  Give,  sir  ? — I  do  not  regard  it  as  a  gift  ;  my  re- 
muneration has  not  been  just." 

The  merchant  just  looked  up  from  his  desk, 
pointed  to  the  door  and  said,  "  O,  very  well,  Mr. 
;   that  is  enough." 

"  Sir,  I  did  not  mean  to  offend ;  I  hope  you  will 
forgive  what  I  said." 

It  was  long  before  he  found  any  employment, 
and  for  a  very  lengthened  period  Mr.  Budgett  re- 
gularly allowed  his  family  twelve  shillings  a  week. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  where  strict  discipline  is 
concerned,  punctuality  was  a  prime  virtue.  He  was 
himself  punctual  as  a  chronometer,  even  out  of  busi- 
ness. If  he  had  made  an  engagement  with  his 
neighbour  the  Rev.  J.  Glanville,  and  was  a  minute 
late,  he  would  apologize  and  account  for  it.  So  his 
men  must  be  at  work  at  the  given  moment,  and  his 
travellers  must  so  arrange  their  journey  that  every 
customer  shall  know  at  what  hour  to  expect  them. 
But  as  discipline  and  punctuality  are  not  meant  to 
abridge  but  to  defend  happiness,  he  contrived  to 
place  the  arrangements  enforcing  these  in  a  light 
which  commended  them  to  the  men.  The  hour 
to  begin  work  was  six  o'clock.  By  the  gate  hung 
a  blackboard  divided  into  squares,  each  square  was 
numbered  and  contained  a  nail,  on  the  nail  hung 
a  little  copper  plate.  Each  man  had  his  number, 
and  as  In-  went  out  he  took  a  plate  with  him, 
leaving  his  number  exposed  on  the  board.  As  he 
entered  he  placed  the  plate  on  the  nail,  so  covering 
his  number.     The  moment  the  bell  ceased  ringing, 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  219 

the  board  was  removed,  and  all  whose  numbers 
Avere  not  covered  were  at  once  set  down  as  de- 
faulters. He  who  did  not  appear  once  on  that  list 
during  a  year  received  at  its  end  a  sovereign  as  his 
reward.  But  in  the  early  days  of  the  establishment 
it  was  usual  to  give  porters  beer.  This  custom  Mr. 
Budgett  disapproved,  and  to  it  he  would  not  sub- 
mit ;  but  close  by  the  number  board,  he  placed  an- 
other board  laden  with  pennypieces ;  each  man  as 
he  entered  in  the  morning  took  a  penny,  on  return- 
ing from  breakfast  a  penny,  and  on  returning  from 
dinner  a  penny;  thus  making  three  in  the  day, 
which  Mr.  Budgett  considered  a  full  equivalent  for 
beer  and  of  far  greater  value.  If,  however,  the 
poor  wight  was  late,  he  lost  his  penny  ;  thus  pay- 
ing a  fine  out  of  what  was  considered  his  due,  as 
well  as  forfeiting  the  reward  which  punctuality 
would  secure  at  the  year's  end.  At  first  even  a 
single  lapse  occasioned  the  loss  of  the  whole  sove- 
reign ;  but  afterwards  that  rule  was  relaxed,  five 
shillings  being  deducted  for  one,  and  proportionate 
sums  for  additional  faults.  In  the  course  of  years, 
the  beer-pence  were  commuted  for  eighteenpence 
per  week  additional  wages ;  and  then  every  de- 
faulter was  fined, — if  a  porter,  a  penny — and  so  on, 
in  proportion  to  rank,  with  every  one  in  the  house, 
up  to  the  partners.  The  post  hour  was  a  quarter 
past  seven :  at  that  hour  the  clerks  must  be  in  their 
places,  and  one  of  the  principals  present  to  open  the 
letters ;  if  he  was  late,  his  fine  was  half-a-crown. 
With    such  spirit   was   this  discipline  maintained, 


220  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

that  though  many  of  the  men  chose  to  live  in 
Kingswood  after  the  business  was  removed  to  Bris- 
tol, they  made  their  four  miles'  journey  and  many 
never  were  late.  Some  who  have  been  years  in  the 
establishment  have  not  once  been  reported  absent. 

The  system  of  fining  might  easily  make  the  dis- 
cipline appear  harsh  to  the  men ;  but  besides  the 
corrective  to  that  provided  in  the  reward  for  punctu- 
ality, the  fines  are  so  applied  as  to  take  away  all 
idea  of  severity.  A  sick  fund  exists  for  "  the  busi- 
ness," to  which  all  are  required  to  pay  one  penny 
weekly.  Into  this  fund  go  all  the  sums  accruing 
from  fines.  In  cases  of  sickness,  allowances  are 
made  on  something  like  the  following  scale  : — 

One  who  has  Leen  in  the  establishment 

less  than  5  years 
Above  5  and  less  than  10  years 
Above  10  and  less  than  15  years 
Above  15  and  less  than  20  years 
Above  20  and  less  than  25  years 
Above  25  years         ... 

This  fund  did  not  hinder  the  men  from  belong- 
ing to  any  other  benefit  society,  and  provided  them 
a  real  help  in  time  of  need  at  a  cost  they  could 
never  feel.  Of  course  it  is  apparent  that  such  a 
scale  of  allowances  could  not  be  kept  up  by  a  sub- 
scription of  a  penny  a  week,  eked  out  by  petty  fines. 
The  deficit  came  out  of  Mr.  Budgett's  pocket,  cost- 
ing him  from  thirty  to  fifty  pounds  a  year. 

With  punctuality  comes  despatch  ;  both  are  ap- 
ples of  the  same  branch — both    springing  from  a 


5s. 

per 

'  W 

eek 

Gs. 

it 

7s. 

ii 

Ss. 

u 

9s. 

ti 

10s. 

<( 

MASTER  AND  MEN.  221 

sens*  of  the  rapidity  wherewith  time  flies,  joined 
with  a  determination  to  accomplish  all  that  has  been 
undertaken.  Men  who  are  not  punctual  can  never 
he  abreast  of  their  business;  they  talk  superbly 
about  not  being  slaves  of  time,  while  time  is  laugh- 
ing at  them,  for  they  never  mastered  it  yet — never 
made  one  week  of  their  lives  serve  the  purposes 
they  meant  it  to  serve.  Time  has  always  beaten 
them,  always  left  them  discomfited  amid  heaps  of 
work  undone  and  work  ill  done.  And  they  are 
the  masters  of  time,  while  the  man  who  holds  his 
hours  with  a  firm  hand  and  makes  each  one  serve  his 
purpose  is  its  slave  !  Very  well ;  he  can  comfort- 
ably hear  his  high-spirited  neighbour  vaunt  his 
liberty,  and  exhibit  his  confusion. 

At  the  outset  we  noticed  the  incredible  celerity 
wherewith  Mr.  Budgett  transacted  business  ;  but  it 
was  not  enough  that  his  own  deeds  should  be 
swiftly  done.  Everything  must  speed  around  him. 
He  could  not  bear  to  see  any  move  as  if  time  were 
plentiful.  But  he  never  sought  velocity  by  haste  ;  it 
must  ever  be  gained  by  order  and  cool  energy.  Plan 
after  plan,  arrangement  after  arrangement  were  put 
in  force  to  bring  the  establishment  into  the  condi- 
tion of  a  machine,  wherein  every  part  worked  with 
equable  and  yet  amazing  speed.  The  success  was 
great.  Every  morning  the  wagons  start  with 
what  is  called  the  "  first  load  "  at  eight  o'clock, — 
that  is,  with  the  first  instalment  of  goods  to  be  sent 
out  that  day ;  which  goods  have  been  bought  in 
the  sale-room  on  the  preceding  afternoon,  or  or- 


222  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

dered  by  an  evening  post.  The  morning  post,  as 
has  been  stated,  arrives  at  a  quarter  past  seven. 
The  "  second  load  "  consists  of  goods  ordered  by  the 
letters  then  arriving,  and  that  leaves  the  premises  at 
from  nine  to  half- past  nine  o'clock.  Thus  the  work 
of  opening  letters,  entering  orders,  transferring  to  the 
different  departments,  weighing,  measuring,  pack- 
ing, and  lading,  has  been  done  in  two  hours  or  so. 
At  different  periods  of  the  day,  load  after  load  is 
despatched,  till  every  order  which  arrived  by  that 
morning's  post  is  executed.  This  is  the  clay's  work, 
and  within  the  day  it  must  be  done.  When  the 
immense  number  of  the  orders  is  considered,  and 
the  endless  variety  of  articles  which  they  embrace, — 
everything,  in  fact,  that  a  retail  grocer  can  want, — 
it  really  is  astonishing  how  all  can  be  accomplished 
on  the  same  day ;  at  least  so  it  seems  to  those  who 
are  not  "  business  men."  Without  discipline,  with- 
out punctuality,  without  despatch,  such  a  feat  could 
never  be  accomplished  ;  but  all  these  are  made  to 
subserve  the  good  end  of  affording  the  men  rational 
leisure,  for  they  are  at  liberty  the  moment  the  day's 
work  is  done. 

One  of  the  oldest  servants  of  the  firm  related  to 
me  their  progress  from  the  old  hours  to  those  now 
established.  When  he  entered  the  "business,"  it 
was  small ;  all  resided  in  the  house.  The  hours 
were  nominally  from  six  in  the  morning  to  nine  at 
night ;  but  it  was  generally  ten,  and  sometimes 
eleven  o'clock,  before  they  could  retire,  and  these 
hours  continued    even    after  some   of  them    lived 


MASTER  AND   MEN.  223 

away  from  the  premises.  As  "Mr.  Samuel"  be- 
gan to  take  a  lead  in  the  business,  he  would  often 
express  dissatisfaetion  with  this  state  of  things. 
"  It  is  not  rational,"  he  would  cry  ;  "  you  ought  to 
be  at  home  with  your  families :  we  might  just  as 
well  get  done  sooner."  As  the  wholesale  trade 
sprang  up,  of  course,  there  .was  an  increasing  press 
of  work;  and  every  now  and  then  he  would  say, 
"  1  do  not  like  to  see  you  here ;  I  want  to  see  you 
at  home:  we  must  get  done  sooner."  He  made 
efforts,  and  presently  the  bell  was  regularly  rung 
every  night  at  half-past  eight.  This  was  a  wonder- 
ful relief,  and  the  men  were  well  content.  "  Mr. 
Samuel  was,  of  course,  pleased  with  the  improve- 
ment for  a  time,  but  he  soon  began  to  feel  that 
ihey  had  not  gone  far  enough  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. Presently  he  was  again  expressing  his  dis- 
like to  see  them  working  so  late,  and  saying,  "  I 
don't  see  why  we  should  not  get  done  by  seven, 
yes,  by  six  o'clock."  They  thought  this  very  kind 
of  him,  but  quite  impossible.  Before  long,  how- 
ever, they  all  found  themselves  starting  for  home 
at  seven  o'clock.  Still  he  was  not  content :  he 
aimed  at  six  o'clock,  and  gained  it ;  and  then  came 
the  change  whereby  the  work  was  done  within  the 
day,  and  the  present  result  secured.  By  bad  ar- 
rangements, or  by  employing  an  insufficient  num- 
ber of  hands,  the  plan  of  clearing  off  the  orders  of 
each  day  within  the  day  might  have  been  the  very 
cause  of  endless  detentions ;  but  Mr.  Budgett  so 
adjusted  his  methods,  that  the  effect  was  a  clear 


224  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

and  considerable  gain  to  all.  Among  other  ar- 
rangements tending  to  shorten  the  day,  one  very 
efficient  one  was,  that  none  of  the  men  left  till  all 
were  ready ;  if,  therefore,  the  men  in  one  depart- 
ment were  behind,  all  the  others  were  kept  wait- 
ing. Of  course,  they  did  not  like  the  hinderance, 
and  those  who  caused  it.  had  abundant  admonition  ; 
in  this  way  the  interest  and  the  influence  of  the 
whole  staff  acted  on  each  particular  branch,  and 
without  any  hint  from  the  master  about  speed,  the 
men  were  sufficiently  prompted  by  their  comrades. 
Thus,  with  an  increasing  rush  of  business,  the  hours 
of  labour  were  abridged,  and  every  man  in  that 
great  establishment  could  daily  turn  homeward  at 
five  or  half-past  five  o'clock,  with  a  full  evening  at 
leisure. 

And  why,  upon  earth,  should  men  in  a  shop  or 
warehouse  be  condemned  to  toil  in  the  hours 
which  other  men  give  to  rest  ?  Is  it  not  enough, 
if  from  morn  till  eve  they  are  pent  up  and  on  the 
stretch  ?  When  the  bricklayer  lays  down  his 
trowel,  and  the  weaver  quits  his  loom ;  when  the 
reaper  puts  up  his  sickle,  and  the  ploughman  drives 
home  his  team,  why  should  the  shopman  and 
warehouseman  kindle  artificial  light  to  witness  fur- 
ther drudgery  ?  True,  the  bricklayer  or  the 
ploughman  has  heavier  muscular  fatigue;  but  he 
has  also  the  bright  sun  and  the  fresh  air.  His 
limbs  are  more  taxed,  but  his  vitals  are  more  re- 
freshed. It  is  one  thing  to  spend  twelve  hours  on 
a  Bedfordshire  farm,  and  another  to  spend  twelve 


MASTER  AND   MEN.  225 

hours  in  a  close  shop  or  store.  Within  the  last 
few  years  public  feeling  has  much  improved  on  this 
point.  The  oppressed  class  have  taken  up  their 
own  cause,  and  a  cry  for  early  closing  has  reached 
the  ears  of  all.  In  the  higher  circles  of  trade 
something  has  been  done ;  noble  and  valuable  ex- 
amples have  been  set  by  some  important  houses. 
Many  have  reaped  the  benefit  in  better  health,  in 
mental  feasts,  in  spiritual  privileges.  I  have  joined 
men  in  a  house  of  business,  both  before  and  after 
their  hours  of  work,  in  noble  and  profitable  exer- 
cises ;  in  meetings  for  prayer,  for  Christian  philan- 
thropy, and  for  self-improvement ;  and  one  has  felt 
moved  to  say,  Peace  be  on  the  house  where  men 
can  spend  such  hours  instead  of  submerging  all 
their  waking  life  under  the  one  turbid,  headlong 
tide  of  London  commerce. 

Some  have  heard  so  much  of  the  early  closing 
movement,  that  they  imagine  the  thing  is  accom- 
plished. Why,  just  start  for  a  walk  in  the  streets 
of  London  some  night  at  half-past  ten  o'clock,  and 
open  your  eyes.  Take  especially  the  lower  and 
less  airy  neighbourhoods.  See  how  the  windows 
glare  and  the. shop  doors  gape,  as  if  commerce 
were  sitting  within  all  greedy  and  unsatisfied  yet ; 
and  master  and  men,  pale  by  the  gas-light,  were 
his  slaves,  waiting  to  bear  to  him  any  morsel  of 
prey  that  may  pass.  See  that  close-smelling,  lum- 
bered oil-shop,  with  boxes  and  bundles,  firkins  and 
jars,  chips,  matches,  candles,  ill-odoured  paints,  and 
all  sorts  of  unloveliness.     See  the  youth  with  red 


226  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

hair  and  white  cheeks,  attentively  waiting  on  that 
lady  who  asks  for  night-lights.  That  youth  opened- 
the  door  this  morning  as  it  was  striking  seven ;  the 
shop  clock  now  stands  at  a  quarter  to  eleven,  and 
during  those  sixteen  hours  he  has  been  there  be- 
hind that  dirty  counter,  among  oils  and  ochres, 
white  leads,  black  leads,  red  leads,  shoe-blacking, 
lamp-black,  and  glue,  indigo,  rosin,  and  grease, — 
among  sights  and  smells  that  never  yet  made  eyes 
bright  or  olfactories  happy.  When  he  leaves  this 
beauty  of  a  shop,  he  will  go  up  into  the  attic,  and 
share  a  small  room  with  three  or  four  comrades. 
Then  to-morrow  morning  he  will  be  there  again 
behind  the  counter  by  seven  o'clock;  and  because 
to-morrow  is  the  "  preparation  for  the  Sabbath,"  he 
will  be  immersed  among  his  unlovable  commo- 
dities just  up  to  the  moment  when  midnight  is 
passing  into  morn.  Now,  should  you  wonder  if 
those  white  cheeks  grew  whiter?  if  his  poor  mo- 
ther, who  thought  that  when  her  son  "  had  got  a 
jjlace  in  London,"  he  was  in  the  way  of  well-doing, 
should  see  him  come  home  next  autumn  with  death 
upon  his  lungs  ? 

You  ask  the  lady  who  has  bought  the  night- 
lights  if  she  thinks  it  right  to  come  to  a  shop  at 
this  hour.  She  tells  you,  "  No,  she  really  does  not 
like  to  be  seen  in  a  shop  at  such  an  hour ;  but  she 
and  her  husband  were  just  returning  home  from  a 
friend's,  and  remembering  that  she  had  no  night- 
lights  in  the  house,  she  procured  them."  But 
when  you  speak  of  the  poor  youth  who  served  her 


MASTEE   AND    MEN.  227 

— of  his  sixteen  hours'  daily  work,  of  his  cheerless 
lit'.',  and  imperilled  health,— "O,  really,  that  never 
struck  me."  No,  to  he  sure,  it  never  struck  her. 
The  clear,  soft,  gentle  tone,  the  good,  kindly, 
honest  look,  tell  you  conclusively  that  the  farthest 
thing  from  her  heart  was  harshness  to  any  mortal ; 
yet,  had  she  gone  into  such  a  shop  at  that  hour, 
and  seen  a  son  of  her  own  there,  it  Would  probably 
have  struck  her. 

Even  yet  the  state  of  things  in  London  is  very 
had.  The  most  protracted  hours  are  still  persisted 
in  by  the  greater  part  of  the  grocers,  chemists,  oil- 
men, and  tobacconists,  by  the  lower  class  of  drapers, 
and  by  the  shops  of  every  description  in  the  closer 
and  more  unhealthy  neighbourhoods.  The  great- 
est improvement  has  taken  place  in  the  highest 
class  of  shops,  where,  though  urgently  needed,  it 
was  not  so  urgently  as  in  those  which  remain  as 
bad  as  ever.  At  eleven  o'clock  on  a  Saturday 
night*  you  may  see  young  men  in  that  grocer's  shop 
over  there,  where  they  have  been  from  seven  in  the 
morning.  The  summer  air  is  oppressive,  the  gas 
lights  are  warm,  their  work  is  unceasing.  They 
will  not  be  at  rest  before  the  morn  of  Sunday; 
and.  one  of  those  young  men,  I  know,  is  a  Chris- 
tian brother, — a  thoughtful,  reading,  upright,  useful 
man — one  who  loves  God,  and  keeps  his  com- 
mandments,— and  to-morrow  he  will  teach  the 
children  of  others  for  love  of  their  souls.  I  do 
declare  it  makes  me  indignant  to  see  him  shut  up 
there  at  this  hour. 


228  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

Even  in  the  wholesale  houses,  where  the  ordinary 
hours  are  tolerable,  the  protraction  of  labour  in  the 
busy  season  is  really  horrible.  It  is  a  fact,  that 
just  during  the  rush  of  the  spring  or  autumn 
trade,  young  men  are  often  at  work  till  midnight, 
and  sometimes  till  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. After  a  man  has  been  labouring  for  a  whole 
day  in  the  city,  with  its  depressing  air,  with  its 
haste,  wear,  and  tax,  that  he  is  to  go  on  labouring 
by  gas-light  from  sunset  to  midnight,  and  then  to 
pass  into  morning,  is  intolerable  ;  it  is  a  pressure  on 
human  life  and  happiness  which  no  plea  of  com- 
merce, which  no  mass  of  lucre  can  justify.  "  Busi- 
ness must  be  done,"  is  with  some  men  the  whole 
moral  law  of  the  warehouse ;  the  ten  command- 
ments with  all  the  words  of  charity  flee  before  it. 
But  no  business  must  be  clone  which  mars  happi- 
ness, risks  life,  presses  and  wears  out  your  fellow- 
creatures  for  no  higher  end  than  to  avoid  "  losing 
an  account,"  or  forfeiting  an  order.  Perish  your 
orders  and  your  accounts,  rather  than  one  of  my 
fellow-creatures  should  be  made  consumptive,  or 
should  be  rendered  sickly  for  life ;  ay,  rather  than 
he  should  go  on  toiling  with  a  heavy  heart,  feeling 
that  man  was  cruel  to  him,  and  tempted  to  think 
that  Providence  was  indifferent.  If  you  cannot  do 
all  your  business  without  grinding  men,  abridge  it ; 
better  do  less  than  commit  cruelty.  Better  that 
fewer  invoices  should  be  written  under  your  roof, 
than  that  hearts  should  be  broken  under  it.  No 
power  can   compel   you   to   undertake  more  work 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  229 

than  can  be  performed  without  oppression.  How 
can  yon  drive  home,  and  dine,  and  go  to  bed, 
knowing  that  in  the  murky  city  men  are  labouring 
by  gas-light  for  your  wealth  alone  ?  If  "  business 
must  be  done"  at  those  hours,  do  it  yourself; 
break  up  your  own  evenings,  wear  down  your  own 
health,  make  your  own  mother  sorrow,  make  your 
own  wife  droop  ;  but  do  not  inflict  all  that  on 
others. 

Not  long  ago  a  young  man,  who  had  been  out 
on  an  errand  from  his  warehouse,  went  into  a  room 
not  far  from  it,  and  sat  down  for  a  while  to  rest ; 
he  was  overcome  with  fatigue ;  he  said  to  a  friend, 
"  I  am  worn  out ;  and  to-night  I  shall  probably  be 
at  work  till  one  or  two  o'clock ;  we  have  been  for 

the  last  two  nights.     Messrs.  may  be  very 

good  Christians ;  but  their  religion  is  of  no  use 
to  me." 

The  difficulty  of  employers,  both  wholesale  and 
retail,  is  great.  They  cannot  do  justice  to  their  men 
without  a  sacrifice ;  but  the  sacrifice  should  be  made. 
The  extensive  merchant  ought  to  provide  such  help 
as  would  bring  the  labour  within  a  reasonable  time. 
Now  and  then  men  who  have  always  easy  hours, 
may  work  for  a  night  without  serious  mischief;  but 
not  in  London  air,  and  not  often.  No  man  is  justi- 
fied in  leaving  such  a  disproportion  between  the 
work  and  the  hands  as  will  force  the  latter  every 
now  and  then  to  murderous  hours.  You  cannot 
press  men  to  a  point  that  stings  their  feelings  and 
endangers  their  health  without  sin.     You  should 


230  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

take  care  that  no  man  is  cursing  you  in  his  heart 
at  the  hour  when  your  wife  and  children  are  going 
to  rest.  You  may  he  liberal,  you  may  be  muniti- 
eent,  may  have  fine  points  of  character  and  an  at- 
tached circle  of  friends ;  but  it  is  a  canker  in  your 
gold  and  a  blot  on  your  name  that  men  who  call 
you  master  feel  the  iron  go  into  their  soul.  To  them 
your  virtues  are  all  lost  if  you  do  not  show  con- 
sideration to  themselves ;  and  perhaps  the  very  gifts 
of  your  liberality  may  be  followed  by  a  malign  look 
from  those  who  think  it  would  be  better  that  you 
paid  more,  even  though  you  gave  less. 

The  case  of  Mr.  Budgett  shows  that  when  a  mas- 
ter is  awake  to  the  duty  of  bringing  business  within 
reasonable  hours,  he  may  effect  much.  In  few  es- 
tablishments could  the  variety  or  the  number  of 
orders  be  greater ;  yet  from  that  house  the  father 
can  go  forth  to  spend  a  long  evening  with  his  child- 
ren, the  man  who  loves  a  book  can  find  time  to  read, 
he  who  delights  in  a  ramble  may  enjoy  the  fields  on 
a  summer  evening,  (some  I  have  seen  take  share  in 
hay-making  after  their  day's  work  was  done,)  and 
he  who  loves  the  house  of  God  can  enjoy  the  even- 
ing service  and  close  the  day  in  leisure  at  home.  If 
masters  cannot  secure  all  this  without  sacrificing 
income,  and  lowering  their  style,  let  them  count  the 
cost  and  choose  deliberately  whether  they  will  benefit 
their  dependants  at  their  own  expense,  or  benefit 
themselves  at  the  expense  of  their  dependants 
Human  nature  has  its  decision  on  such  an  alterna- 
tive quite  ready ;  the  charity  which  comes  from  God 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  231 

has  its  decision  ready  too.  You  may  adopt  tne  one 
or  the  other,  and  according  to  your  choice,  so  verily 
shall  be  your  reward. 

That  attention  to  the  comfort  of  his  men  which 
was  manifested  in  abridging-  the  hours  of  labour, 
was  not  the  only  token  of  his  interest  in  their  wel- 
fare. Every  sign  of  industry  and  of  sincere  interest 
in  the  establishment  gave  him  pleasure  ;  and  he  was 
never  slow  to  meet  it  with  a  reward.  One,  very 
long  in  his  employment,  told  me  that  but  a  si  mil, 
period  before  his  death  he  mentioned  to  him  some 
improvement  which  had  occurred  to  him  for  one 
part  of  the  business ;  and  he  immediately  thanked 
him,  putting  a  sovereign  into  his  hand.  When  a 
year  wound  up  well,  the  pleasure  was  not  all  with 
the  principals  ;  several  of  those  whose  diligence  and 
talent  had  a  share  in  gaining  the  result  found  also 
that  they  had  a  share  in  the  reward.  Stock-taking 
became  to  them  a  matter  of  personal  interest,  and 
they  would  often  inquire,  "Hope  you  find  things 
satisfactory,  sir?"  Surely  it  must  be  far  more 
cheerful  for  a  master  to  feel  that  those  around  him 
have  some  pleasure  in  his  success,  than  to  know  that 
it  is  indifferent  to  them,  because  they  are  aware  that 
however  large  the  cake  may  be  he  will  eat  it  all 
alone.  One,  after  describing  the  pains  Mr.  Budgett 
had  taken  to  make  him  master  of  his  own  branch 
of  the  business,  and  how,  when  satisfied  Avith  his 
fitness,  he  had  devolved  upon  him  important  re- 
sponsibilities, said,  with  a  fine  feeling  which  I  should 
love  to  see  masters  generally  kindle  among  those  in 


232  THE   SUCCESSFUL    MERCHANT. 

their  employment,  "  And  he  never  had  a  good  year, 
hut  I  was  the  better  for  it  when  stock-taking  came  ! 
Indeed  I  may  say  he  was  a  father  to  me  in  body 
and  soul."  Another,  who  gave  a  similar  report  of 
the  pains  taken  to  train  him,  said,  "  At  stock-taking 
lie  has  sometimes  given  me  a  hundred  pounds  at  a 
time."  He  also  mentioned  to  me  that  on  one  occa- 
sion he  called  at  his  house,  and  seeing  his  three 
children,  said  he  would  like  to  make  them  a  present, 
and  when  he  went  home  gave  him  a  ten-pound  note 
for  each  of  them. 

His  ambition  was  to  make  all  about  him  feel  the 
same  interest  in  the  business  he  did  himself ;  and  by 
means  such  as  these  he  succeeded  to  no  common 
degree  in  inspiring  that  feeling. 

A  trembling  old  man  who  had  spent  the  chief 
part  of  life  on  the  premises  at  Kingswood,  spoke 
with  great  zest  of  the  rise  of  the  business  "  from  little 
to  more."  He  had  seen  the  little  shop  swell  into 
warehouses,  he  had  seen  the  new  dwelling-house 
rise  and  enlarge,  he  had  seen  the  quarry  filled  up 
and  turned  into  a  garden,  he  had  seen  the  adjoining 
fields  enclosed  and  made  pleasure-grounds ;  and  in 
all  whereof  he  discoursed  he  had  been  a  great  part, 
for  in  out-door  operations  he  had  been  a  leader. 
According  to  him,  Mr.  Budgett  had  no  greater  de- 
light  than  to  be  surrounded  by  a  host  of  busy  men ; 
he  would  circulate  among,  he  would  animate  them, 
would  chide  the  idler  heartily,  and  heartily  encou- 
rage the  worker.  "Why,  sir,  I  do  believe  as  he 
would  get,  ay,  just  twice  as  much  work  out  o'  a  man 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  233 

in  a  week  as  another  master."  Sometimes  a  lazy 
labourer  on  the  grounds  or  farm  would  be  set  all 
astir  by  the  words,  "Remember  the  gothic  door." 
And  when  Friday  night  came,  a  stranger  would  see 
a  practical  comment  on  that  enigmatical  text.  In 
a  certain  part  of  the  wall  surrounding  the  grounds 
was  a  door,  called  the  gothic  door,  by  which  the 
men  went  out  at  night.  On  a  Friday  evening  Mr. 
Budgett  would  be  found  standing  by  this  door, 
sometimes  holding  a  little  basket  filled  with  minute 
packages  in  paper,  sometimes  showing  an  uncom- 
mon bulkiness  of  pocket.  As  the  men  passed,  a 
package  was  slipped  into  the  hand  of  each,  and 
one  would  find  that  he  had  a  present  of  five  shillings, 
another  of  three,  another  of  half-a-crown,  and  so 
on — each  discerning  in  his  gift  an  estimate  of  his 
diligence ;  and  "  to  a  boy,"  said  my  aged  informant, 
"  he  would  give  sixpence."  You  may  imagine  that 
such  a  narrative  would  kindle  the  narrator.  •  "  Ah, 
sir,  he  was  a  man  as  had  no  pleasure  in  a  muckin 
up  money :  why,  sir,  he  would  often  in  that  a  way 
give,  ay,  I  believe  tweuty  pounds  on  a  Friday 
night — well,  at  any  rate,  fifteen  pounds." 

"  But  would  he  give  anything  to  a  man  who  had 
been  lazy  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  he  would  gie  him  something,  but  he 
would  soon  get  rid  on  him." 

This  was  perfectly  true ;  he  could  not  bear  a  lazy 
man.  Tact  and  push  he  delighted  in  and  would 
largely  reward  ;  but  if  he  could  not  bring  a  man  up 
to  his  mark  he  would  let  him  go.     The  statement 


234  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

above  given  on  the  testimony  of  the  old  man  is  per- 
fectly correct,  only  that  the  sum  bestowed  in  this 
manner  seldom  exceeded  twelve  or  fourteen  pounds 
per  week.  But  this  twined  a  sacred  bond  between 
man  and  master, — made  many  a  cottage  glad, — led 
many  a  labourer,  when  he  saw  his  master  in  the 
house  of  God,  to  feel  that  he  had  given  him  cause 
to  join  all  the  more  heartily  in  praise, — led  the 
family  of  many  a  labourer,  as  they  turned  away  from 
worship  and  saw  the  family  of  the  master  going  to 
their  own  abundant  home,  to  feel  that  they  too  were 
going  to  a  good  Sunday  dinner. 

Even  the  horse  of  a  prosperous  man  is  better 
cared  for  than  the  horse  of  the  struggling  and  the 
poor.  But  full  often  the  labourer  finds  himself  in  an 
establishment  where  wealth  is  gushing  in  amain, 
but  not  one  driblet  ever  reaches  him  beyond  the 
hard  wages  which  would  be  his  were  prosperity  far 
away ; — no  token  of  kindness,  no  gentle  pledge  that 
when  gains  are  counted,  the  instruments  employed 
to  win  them  are  remembered.  With  such  hearts  as 
men  have  in  them,  it  is  not  matter  of  amazement 
that  this  state  of  things  should  prepare  them  for  all 
sorts  of  seduction,  for  all  sour  theories  about  the 
enmity  of  capital  to  labour,  for  all  blind  ambitions 
about  organizing  labour,  sharing  profits,  and  equal- 
izing jwsition. 

Louis  Blanc's  elaborate  endeavour  to  organize  la- 
bour had  not  a  very  flattering  end.  Four  days  of 
mortal  fighting — fellow-townsmen  breast  to  breast, 
beard  to  beard,  shooting,  stabbing,  stoning, — mer- 


MASTER  AND  .MEN.  '235 

chant  and  mechanic,  tailor  and  grenadier,  journalist 
and  blacksmith,  cook  and  artilleryman,  shoeblack 
and  senator,  barber  and  cuirassier, — the  father  in  a 
blouse  behind  the  barricade,  the  son  in  a  uniform 
before  it ;  the  inhabitant  of  the  first  floor  charging, 
the  inhabitant  of  the  second  floor  repelling  the 
charge, — boys,  women,  white-headed  men,  all  raging 
in  one  wild  slaughter,  all  quelled  "  in  one  red  bu- 
rial ;" — that  was  the  way  the  national  workshops 
wound  up.  I  saw  that,  and  I  wish  never  to  see  the 
like  again.  Though  new  attempts  to  organize  la- 
bour may  easily  have  a  better  beginning,  it  is  not 
plain  that  they  will  easily  have  a  better  end.  The 
relation  of  master  and  men  is  natural,  safe,  manage- 
able ;  and  to  make  a  community  of  workers  so  or- 
ganized all  our  own  world  admits  of,  you  need  only 
to  make  masters  all  they  ought  to  be.  That  is  no 
small  task,  most  surely ;  but  on  any  other  arrange- 
ment of  society  you  will  find  a  very  similar  task  at 
hand.  If  you  are  to  dispense  with  masters,  and  pro- 
pose universal  partnerships  as  the  way  to  make  all 
miseries  take  their  leave  of  society,  you  will  just  find 
that  instead  of  the  task  of  making  every  master  all 
he  ought  to  be,  you  have  the  task  of  making  every 
man  all  he  ought  to  be ;  which  in  the  long  run  will 
prove,  I  dare  say,  quite  as  considerable  an  undertak- 
ing. Emile  de  Girardin  has  no  gospel  to  preach, 
but  he  sometimes  says  a  true  thing.  When  lying- 
in  the  Conciergerie,  he  wrote,  "  The  English  love 
liberty,  the  French  love  equality."  He  was  right; 
and  in  that  difference  you  have  a  key  to  much  of 


236  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MEECHANT. 

what  passes  in  the  two  nations.  The  English  do 
love  liberty,  and  will  have  it ;  but  beyond  that  they 
have  no  faith  in  equality,  for  if  men  be  free  they  can- 
not be  equal  except  in  this,  that  real  liberty  is  the 
only  equality  attainable.  Set  about  making  two  men 
equal,  and  at  once  they  cease  to  be  free;  set  them 
free,  and  in  a  day  they  cease  to  be  equal.  Equal  in 
stature,  in  strength,  in  health,  in  mind,  in  emotional 
enjoyment,  in  power  over  others,  we  can  never  be. 
God  has  settled  that.  And  as  to  making  us  equal 
in  circumstances,  it  could  only  be  effected  in  appear- 
ance by  most  grinding  tyranny,  and  even  then  would 
be  hollow  and  unreal.  Providence  has  a  deep 
system  of  compensation  which  invisibly  effects 
a  near  approach  to  equality,  where  men  are  only 
free. 

"  Well,  friend,"  I  said  to  the  driver  of  a  cabrio- 
let crossing  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  sometime 
after  the  republic  had  been  established,  "how  do 
you  like  the  republic  ?" 

"  Ah  !  Monsieur,  the  republic  is  a  very  fine  thing ; 
but — business  does  not  thrive  ;  I  used  to  earn  twice 
as  much  as  I  earn  now :  you  see  there  are  now 
no  rich  people,  they  are  all  gone.  And  this  is  not 
bad  enough;  but  they  now  demand  the  republic 
democratic  and  social.  I  do  not  quite  understand 
it,  but  they  say  we  are  all  to  be  equal.  Now,  I  do 
not  like  that ;  for  most  of  the  other  cabmen  spend 
their  money  in  drink,  and  it  would  not  be  just 
to  take  what  I  earn  and  give  it  to  them  to  spend 
so.     I  have  always  been  careful.     I  have  one  son : 


MASTER  AND  MEM.  23*7 

I  have  saved  money  to  educate  him ;  he  is  now  at 
college ;  I  mean  him  to  be  an  advocate.  And  who 
knows? — my  son  may  be  a  great  man.  Now 
would  it  be  just,  in  order  to  make  us  all  equal,  to 
force  me  to  give  up  my  earnings  to  men  who  would 
drink  them,  instead  of  keeping  them  to  educate  my 
son  ?  Why  should  they  try  to  make  us  equal  ? 
God  has  made  us  five  fingers  on  one  hand,  and  has 
he  made  two  of  them  equal  I"  Here  he  held  up 
the  fingers  spread  abroad,  then  closed  them,  and 
displayed  them  triumphantly  as  emblems  of  his 
social  grades.  "And  why  has  He  made  them  un- 
equal I  Winy,  to  make  one  good  strong  fist."  And 
so  saying,  he  clasped  his  fist  and  held  it  up,  and 
turned  it  round,  to  show  how  much  better  it  fitted 
than  if  all  the  fingers  had  been  equally  long  and 
thick. 

Now  society  is  one  hand,  composed  of  several 
fingers,  and  institutions  are  but  a  glove.  He 
that  made  the  fingers  did  not  make  them  equal,  and 
you  need  never  try  to  invent  a  glove  that  will ;  you 
might  make  an  iron  glove,  and  stunt  and  hamper, 
but  though  all  would  be  distorted,  they  would  not 
be  equal  even  then.  If  you  make  a  glove  to  fit 
their  natural  inequalities,  it  may  prove  that  the 
thumb  with  his  large  portion  is  just  as  much  strait- 
ened as  the  little  finger  with  his  small. 

I  have  no  faith  in  any  attempt  to  make  us  equal 
in  circumstances,  no  idea  that  our  great  Father 
ever  meant  us  so  to  be,  and  no  relish  for  that  style 
of  brotherhood  which  would  make  me  hanker  to 


238  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

have  as  much  as  my  brother  and  share  all  he  earned. 
No :  let  me  rejoice  in  his  lot,  and  rejoice  in  my 
own  ;  and  if,  after  every  honest  effort,  I  cannot  have 
the  satisfaction  of  eating  my  own  morsel,  why  then, 
if  he  is  a  brother,  he  will  divide  his  with  me.  But 
I  would  rather  burden  no  man.  One  hardly  sees 
the  wisdom  of  systems  which  are  perpetually  telling 
society  that  it  must  take  care  of  the  individuals  of 
which  it  is  composed.  Who  ever  knew  of  a  whole 
making  up  its  parts,  not  of  parts  making  up  a 
whole, — of  a  corn-stack  making  trie  ears,  not  of  ears 
making  a  corn-stack  ?  Looking  at  this,  one  is  much 
more  inclined  to  tell  individuals  to  serve  society, 
than  to  tell  society  to  serve  individuals. 

If  society  is  bound  to  care  for  one  man  it  is 
bound  equally  to  care  for  another,  and  so  on  till  it 
must  care  for  all ;  and  this  is  the  end  of  every 
scheme  of  provision — not  providing  for  a  section, 
but  providing  for  the  whole  community.  If  you 
lay  this  task  of  providing  at  the  door  of  any 
collective  idea, — call  it  nation,  society,  empire,  or 
anything  else, — you  assign  to  it  precisely  the  same 
wort  as  God  has  divided  among,  not  ideas,  but  all 
the  men  alive,  charging  each  one  of  them  to  provide 
for  his  own.  On  this  divine  scheme,  each  man  has  a 
work  before  him ;  and  the  work  has  not  to  look  to 
an  idea,  but  lies  at  the  door  of  an  actual  agent, 
moved  by  affection,  by  wants,  and  by  example,  to 
set  about  his  duty.  On  the  modern  scheme,  each 
man  has  to  look  to  society,  or  nation,  or  something 
of  that  kind  to  keep  him  ;  and  when  you  set  all 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  239 

the  men  in  a  country  to  look  out  for  society,  or  na- 
tion, you  will  find  that,  apart  from  themselves,  such 
words  represent  nothing.  If  society  is  to  provide,  it 
must  either  be  for  every  one  or  for  a  part.  If  for  every 
one,  then  you  put  universal  provision  on  a  new  foot- 
ing, trusting  to  the  regularity  of  a  coUective  organi- 
zation rather  than  to  the  fruits  of  individual  in- 
dustry ;  instead  of  dividing  the  great  labour  as  much 
as  possible,  you  deprive  every  individual  of  the  sense 
of  his  individual  responsibility.  But  if  the  idea  of 
a  collective  provision  for  every  soul  in  a  community 
is  not  entertained,  then  you  only  mean  that  those 
who  do  provide  for  themselves  and  their  own,  ought 
also  to  provide  for  those  who  do  not.  Now,  to  this 
we  should  not  object,  provided  those  who  do  not 
provide  for  themselves  are  only  those  who  cannot ; 
but  we  do  most  earnestly  object  to  have  men  taught 
that  they  are  not  bound  to  provide  for  themselves,  but 
that  society  is  bound  to  provide  for  them  :  for  men 
are  so  mean  and  selfish  that  large  numbers  will 
cheerfully  resign  the  noble  desire  to  keep  their  ne- 
cessities from  burdening  others,  and  give  themselves 
up  to  be  fed  and  clothed,  by  whom  they  care  not 
so  only  they  have  plenty.  And  the  great  Author 
of  all  provision  has  so  ruled,  beyond  the  reach  of 
our  control,  that  in  any  community  where  many 
are  indifferent  to  providing  for  themselves  and  then- 
own,  poverty  and  disorder  will  soon  make  havoc. 
"  I  must  look  to  myself,"  in  the  sense  the  world 
uses  it,  is  the  utterance  of  selfishness, — a  man  reck- 
less of  the  general  good,  bent  only  on  #is  private 


240  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

ends.  "  I  must  provide  for  my  own,"  in  the  Chris- 
tian sense,  is  the  utterance  of  generosity  and  lowli- 
ness,— a  man  feeling  that  he  has  no  right  to  lay  on 
others  a  load  he  should  properly  bear,  no  right  to 
expect  from  his  fellow-men  a  better  share  in  the 
common  inheritance  than  fairly  belongs  to  his  ef- 
forts in  the  common  labour.  The  selfish,  greedy 
man  will  look  for  his  supplies — from  what  source 
will  not  in  the  least  trouble  him, — and  will  grudge 
that  others  should  be  above  him.  The  noble  and 
humble  man  will  desire  that  he  should  never  cost 
society  a  mite,  never  cost  another  heart  a  care,  and 
will  rejoice  to  see  the  services  of  others  in  the  toil 
iif  life  more  amply  rewarded  than  his  own.  This 
i.-.  the  spirit  the  gospel  breathes,  with  its  system 
of  individual  provision,  and  it  is  the  spirit  which, 
wherever  it  prevails,  makes  a  working,  earning, 
contented  man. 

All  creatures  were  made  by  a  Giver;  therefore, 
all  creatures  give.  The  dull  clod  gives  life  to  the 
bountiful  seed,  the  grass-blade  gives  beauty  to  the 
eye  and  food  to  the  herd,  the  flower  gives  manifold 
pleasure,  the  trees  give  majesty  and  good  service, 
the  stones  give  a  dwelling;  the  air,  the  rain,  the 
ocean,  the  river,  all  give — and  who  shall  tell  how 
much  ?  The  bird  gives  its  music  and  its  loveliness, 
the  kine  give  food,  the  fold  give  raiment ;  the  horse, 
the  silkworm,  and  all  things  we  love  to  mention 
give,  give ;  and,  above  us,  every  star  gives  though 
but  a  slender  ray,  and  every  planet  gives,  and  that 
great  su»  gives  so  much,  that  withdraw  him  and 


MASTEB  AND  MEN.  241 

all  those  others  would  give  no  more.  And  above 
him  is  the  Giver  who  gives  all  these  and  has  yet 
better  things  to  give,  which  will  make  all  these  look 
trifling.  God  is  ever  giving :  he  has  given  heaven 
above  and  earth  below  ;  there  given  angel  life, — 
here  human  life;  there  thrones,  dominions,  princi- 
palities and  powers, — here  grace,  mercy,  and  peace. 
He  gives  ever ;  but  he  does  not  receive,  except,  in- 
deed, the  joy  of  seeing  those  happy  whom  he  has 
enriched  out  of  his  own  store. 

As  a  man  enters  on  this  world,  he  enters  it  the 
offspring  of  the  great  Giver,  and  looking  around  on 
a  whole  race  of  brothers  his  inquiry  should  be, 
What  service  can  I  do,  what  part  can  I  bear,  what 
contribution  can  I  give  ? — not,  What  claims  can  I 
establish,  and  what  consideration  can  I  obtain? 
What  can  I  do  for  all  ?— not,  What  can  I  force  all 
to  do  for  me  ?  And  to  a  man  in  this  mood  of  heart, 
nothing  would  be  more  unwelcome  than  to  tell  him, 
You  are  to  be  kept  and  cared  for  by  the  toil  of 
others ;  you  are  to  be  a  taker  not  a  giver.  All  of 
the  divine  image  that  was  in  him  would  rebel — 
gently,  generously  rebel.  No,  no  :  he  would  not  be 
a  taker,  he  would  be  a  giver  ;  none  should  bear  his 
burden,  he  would  bear  it ;  and  if  his  services  were 
of  little  account,  still  the  world  has  many  wants  and 
he  would  supply  some  one  of  them.  And  say  not 
that  any  man's  gift  is  small.  He  that  fells  trees 
for  us,  is  his  gift  small  ?  He  that  raises  coal  for  us, 
is  his  gift  small  ?  He  that  tends  sheep  for  us,  is  his 
gift  small  ?     He  that  spins  or  weaves  for  us,  is  his 

16 


242  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 


s 


gift  small  ?  He  that  breaks  stones  for  us,  is  his 
gift  small  ]  No  :  every  one  of  these,  if  he  be  "  a 
partaker  of  the  divine  nature  "  and  love  to  live  not 
for  himself  but  to  show  forth  the  image  of  God,  can 
rejoice  in  his  labour,  that  he  is  employed  under  the 
great  Giver  to  perform  a  part  in  the  universal  giving 
whereon  all  happiness  depends.  Let  the  gift  of 
those  who  give  in  any  one  of  these  lines  be  with- 
held for  one»  year,  and  all  would  cry  aloud  under 
real  want.  Yes,  my  honest  brother,  low-seated 
there  this  frosty  morning,  breaking  cold  stones,  thou 
too  art  giving, — bearing  thy  part  toward  the  com- 
fort of  God's  creation !  Pity  thy  heart  should  not 
have  a  sense  of  the  office  thou  art  discharging ;  it 
would  make  thy  service  proceed  more  cheerily !  I 
cannot  help  feeling  humbled  before  thee :  thy  toil 
for  our  common  family  is  less  kindly  than  mine ;  it 
is  a  pleasanter  tiling  to  make  books  for  mankind, 
than  to  break  stones  for  them  ! 

Yes,  we  are  all  sent  here  to  give ;  and  in  order  to 
do  that  we  must  not  be  dependent.  He  cannot  be- 
stow to  society  who  lives  upon  society ;  he  only  gives 
who  provides  for  his  own.  Some  there  ever  will  be 
who  cannot  make  provision  for  themselves ;  let  their 
kindred  then  be  givers,  and  keep  them  from  bur- 
dening the  community.  But  if  there  is  no  kindred 
who  can  or  will  give,  O  then  the  call  of  the  commu- 
nity is  clear, — love  them,  relieve  them,  make  them 
happy ;  let  them  not  be  outcasts  from  the  family, 
but  brethren  in  need  and  therefore  supplied  tender] y 
"  If  any  man  or  woman  that  believeth  hath  widows 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  243 

let  them  relieve  them,  and  let  not  the  Church  be 
charged  ;  that  it  may  relieve  them  that  are  widows 
indeed."  Is  not  that  law?  Does  not  your  con- 
science echo  it  ?  "  He  that  Avill  not  work  neither 
should  he  eat ;  if  any  man  provide  not  for  his  own 
and  especially  for  those  of  his  own  house,  he  hath 
denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel."  Put 
these  plain  things  together,  and  if  man  attempt  to 
mend  them  he  will  fail.  The  individual  is  to  work ; 
out  of  his  earnings  he  is  to  eat :  if  he  has  some  of 
his  own  house  who  cannot  work  he  is  to  give  them 
to  eat ;  if  he  refuse  this  he  is  an  infidel  and  worse. 
And  if  there  are  poor  whom  no  kindred  relieve,  the 
Church  must  relieve  them.  The  individual,  the 
family,  the  Church :  the  Church  comes  last  and  is 
to  care  for  those,  and  for  those  only,  who  cannot  care 
for  themselves,  who  are  not  cared  for  by  the  family. 
This  is  God's  order ;  and  you  may  make  fifty  thou- 
sand other  plans,  but  you  will  never  put  half  so  much 
practical  knowledge  of  man's  heart  and  man's  need 
into  your  long  plans  as  lies  in  that  short  one. 

It  is  plain  from  the  apostle's  teaching  as  to  what 
families  were  to  do  and  what  the  Church  was  to  do, 
that  he  taught  not  the  doctrine  of  community  of 
goods.  The  Church  of  Jerusalem,  in  its  first  flame 
of  charity,  made  an  approach  to  that  condition,  but 
never  reached  it  in  anything  like  the  socialistic 
sense ;  for  though  they  chose  to  sell  and  to  dis- 
tribute, "  Whiles  it  remained  was  it  not  thine  own  ? 
and  after  it  was  sold,  was  it  not  in  thine  oion 
poiver  ?" — showing  that  no  law  had  pronounced  the 


244  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

community  sole  proprietor,  but  that  every  contribu- 
tor was  considered  a  free-will  donor.  And  even 
this  general  selling  and  distributing  never  occur? 
elsewhere.  The  example  is  never  quoted  to  incite 
any  other  Church ;  they  are  called  to  lay  by  on  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  but  not  to  sell  and  distribute ; 
and  when  this  same  Church  at  Jerusalem  has  need 
of  relief  from  them  all,  we  never  find  her  first  course 
pleaded,  and  other  Churches  called  upon  to  do  for 
her  what  she  had  done  for  her  own.  Had  the}" 
done  so,  soon  would  they  have  needed  othei 
Churches  to  do  the  same  for  them ;  and  when  a  da) 
of  public  distress  came,  all  being  without  resources 
(which  must  ever  be  the  case  where  none  has  pri- 
vate property,)  all  would  have  needed  foreign  help, 
as  those  at  Jerusalem  needed  it,  as  soon  as  the 
famine  came.  In  the  passage  above  quoted,  the 
apostle  plainly  disapproves  the  supplying  of  any 
want  out  of  a  church  fund,  but  such  as  cannot  be 
met  either  by  individual  industry  or  family  resources. 
But  while  utterly  disbelieving  the  theories  which 
tempt  our  working  classes  to  move  for  a  new  order 
of  institutions,  one  is  not  surprised  that  the  neglect 
shown  by  masters  generally  should  induce  a  state  of 
feeling  among  their  men  highly  favourable  to  the 
approaches  of  any  one  who  held  out  the  prospect  of 
a  free,  equal,  fraternal  future.  The  substantial  in- 
terests of  a  community  are  promoted  better  a  thou- 
sand times  by  the  perfect  freedom  of  industry  and 
the  universal  push  of  individual  enterprise,  than  it 
ever  could  be  by  anv  interference  with  the  relations 


MASTER  AND   MEN.  245 

into  which  labour,  capital,  and  talent  naturally  link 
themselves  as  the  emergencies  of  trade  may  dictate. 
On  this  free  principle,  he  generally  becomes  a  mas- 
ter whose  abilities  enable  him,  in  that  position,  to 
insure  the  maintenance  of  those  whose  labour 
seconds  his  talent,  employs  and  augments  his  capi- 
tal ;  and  they  generally  remain  men  whose  energies 
produce  more  to  themselves  under  vigorous  super- 
vision than  they  would  if  worked  only  by  innate 
impulse,  or  guided  only  by  their  own  prudence. 
On  this  free  principle,  the  development  of  industry, 
the  race  of  invention,  the  spread  of  international 
commerce,  the  employment  and  the  wealth  of  a 
people  are  advanced  far  more  surely,  smoothly,  and 
rapidly,  than  they  could  be  by  any  artificial  organi- 
zation possible.  But  the  very  conviction  that  only 
derangement  and  want  are  to  be  expected  from  fet- 
tering labour  in  order  to  foster  it,  makes  one  all  the 
more  anxious  to  impress  upon  those  who,  under  our 
existing  system  of  freedom,  hold  the  master-rank, 
the  solemn  duty  that  lies  upon  them  to  make  in 
their  heart  and  in  their  actions  a  very  wide  and  a 
very  manifest  distinction  between  their  men  and 
their  machinery.  Do,  as  a  man  and  as  a  Chris- 
tian, I  say,  do  let  them  feel  that  you  are  their  friend 
and  brother ;  that  you  think  of  them,  feel  for  them, 
love  them  :  do  spend  time  and  money  to  make  them 
happy.  When  you  prosper,  let  them  have  some 
slight  share  in  your  prosperity;  better  make  fifty 
cottages  a  blanket  warmer  for  the  winter,  than  make 
your  own  mansion  a  shade  more  splendid.     If  you 


246  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

net   five   thousand  on  the   year,  what  great   feat 
would  it  be  if  one  thousand  went  to  spread  satisfac- 
tion and  comfort  around  you  ? — not  in  indiscriminate 
bounties ;  you  should  not  distribute  as  a  machine 
but  as  a  master,  giving  most  to  those  whose  aid  has 
most  contributed  to  the  result,  and  then  (among 
those  whose  work  would  just  have  been  the  same 
and  done  in  the  same  way  had  all  been  <xoincr  to 
wreck  as  it  was  when  all  was  prospering)  choose  the 
best  and  most  worthy  to  receive  the  most ;  but  in  a 
day  when  much  is  gathered  let  all  have  a  Caste. 
One   year   Mr.  Budgett  expected  that  the  profits 
would  be  large :  he  fixed  beforehand  on  a  certain 
sum,  and  said,  "  So  much  will  be  the  well,  and  all 
that  runs  over  shall  go  among  the  business."     When 
they  had  proceeded  far  enough  to  see  how  things 
would  turn,  he  said,  "  The  well  is  full ;"  and  it  did 
run  over  a  very  large  amount,  and  many  of  those 
below  him  were  made  well  aware  of  it.     The  re- 
ceipts, the  profits,  the  gifts  of  that  year,  I  do  not 
know ;  but  one  who  was  a  witness  of  it  all  told  me 
enouo-h  to  make  me  feel  that  in  what  I  have  written 
above  I  am  not  running  wild  with  theory,  but  com- 
mending things  which  might  be  done.     He  would 
often  say  to  his  heads  of  departments  and  travellers, 
"My  business  !     It  is  not  my  business;  it  is  ours" 
All  masters  should  try  to  diffuse  that  feeling,  and 
thereby  lead  those  who  work  with  them  to  feel  with 
them. 

It  is  evident  that  in  giving  his  men  some  reward 
for  good  service  he  was  actuated  by  a  sincere  desire 


MASTER  AND   MEN.  2  4  7 

to  see  them  advance.  This  he  constantly  evinced 
in  many  ways.  One  theme  of  his  advices  habitually 
was  that  they  should  push  their  way  upward ;  he 
had  a  wonderful  impression  that  all  might  prosper, 
and  a  strong  desire  to  see  them  do  so.  He  was 
constantly  enforcing  habits  of.  frugality ;  he  would 
make  them  if  possible  save  a  little  and  put  it  into 
his  hand,  for  which  he  would  give  them  five  per 
cent,  and  help  them  on.  One  whom  he  persuaded 
thus  to  put  ten  pounds  into  his  hand,  had  seen  it 
grow  to  one  hundred.  With  his  household  servants 
it  was  just  the  same ;  he  could  not  bear  to  see  them 
neglecting  means  of  making  themselves  comfortable, 
and  would  in  every  way  in  his  power  induce  them 
to  save  and  look  upwards. 

In  personal  intercourse  with  those  under  him, 
Mr.  Budgett  was  extremely  familiar ;  airs  and  as- 
sumptions he  knew  not.  Most  would  have  thought 
him  far  too  inattentive  to  dignity ;  but  it  was  his 
nature  to  be  open,  off-hand,  and  at  home.  What  a 
subtraction  from  the  discomfort  of  this  world  it  Avould 
be  if  all  who  have  grown  rich  were  the  same  !  But 
you  have  often  seen  a  man, — a  pursy,  stiff,  important 
man ;  his  clothes  good,  well-made,  fitting  tightly  on 
a  front  person  which  has  a  particular,  contented  set ; 
his  lip  locked  and  slightly  curling ;  his  nose  slightly 
curling  too ;  his  shoulders  moving  under  a  deep 
conviction  that  they  carry  a  momentous  head ;  and 
the  head  not  bent  forward,  not  thrown  backward, 
not  leaned  to  one  side,  but  cast  half  upwards,  half 
sideways,  very  slightly,  as  if  just  commencing  a  con- 


248  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

sequential  toss  : — there  he  is,  and  whenever  you  see 
him,  you  read  "Cash-box"  as  plainly  as  ever  you 
read  it  on  a  Chubb ;  and  in  his  presence  a  poor  man 
feels  just  as  he  always  does  in  the  presence  of  a 
Chubb — "  No  access  there  for  me !"  Now  Mr. 
Budgett  never  was  a  cash-box :  he  was  always  a 
plain  free-spoken  man,  who  talked  with  his  men 
homely  and  kindly,  and  if  they  were  in  fault  would 
lecture  them  sharply  ;  but  if  he  thought  he  had  un- 
duly hurt  a  man's  feelings,  would  take  a  speedy 
opportunity  of  making  friends  with  him,  and  if  he 
believed  it  due,  would  beg  pardon  of  one  of  the 
humblest.  "  Indeed,  lie  was  an  adept  at  begging 
pardon,"  said  one  who  had  long  been  close  by  his 
side.  And  a  right  good  art  that,  wherein  to  be  an 
adept,  especially  when  inferiors  are  concerned. 

A  habit  existed  in  the  establishment  up  to  Mr. 
Budgett's  death  which  dated  from  an  early  period 
of  its  history.  Every  month,  the  heads  of  depart- 
ments and  the  travellers  met  the  principals,  when 
all  spoke  freely  on  matters  affecting  the  concern, 
each  being  expected  to  state  anything  which  he 
thought  wanted  to  be  supplied,  altered,  or  discon- 
tinued. The  observations  of  each  would  naturally 
refer  to  his  own  department ;  but  all  the  range  of 
subjects  was  open.  By  this  means,  the  principals 
had  the  personal  advantage  of  all  the  experience  of 
their  responsible  assistants,  ami  these  bad  the  com 
fort  of  feeling  that  they  could  say  whatever  ap- 
peared to  them  desirable  on  points  affecting  either 
the  morality,  the  comfort,  or  the  success  of  the 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  249 

establishment.  All  parties  gained  light  and  stimu- 
lus, and  all  gradually  acquired  a  feeling  of  common 
responsibility  and  common  interest.  After  these 
meetings,  the  principals  and  travellers  took  tea  to- 
gether. 

Besides  this  monthly  meeting,  it  was  usual, 
af^r  stock-taking,  to  give  all  the  men  a  supper. 
On  these  occasions,  the  rewards  for  punctual  at- 
tendance were  distributed  to  those  who  had  earned 
them ;  and  every  man  who  had  not  had  one  black 
mark  received  his  bright  sovereign,  which  fre- 
quently amounted  to  a  handsome  sum  altogether. 
Thus  when  the  commercial  harvest-home  came, 
the  labourers  had  the  harvest-home  feast,  and  a 
good  practical  stimulus  to  boot  for  their  future 
benefit.  All  had  an  opportunity  of  saying  any- 
thing that  was  upon  their  heart  to  say. 

When  the  fire  compelled  the  removal  of  the 
establishment  to  Bristol,  some  irregularity  occurred 
in  these  important  interchanges  of  good  feeling. 
But  Mr.  Budgett  had  not  lost  the  desire  to  cherish 
between  himself  and  his  men  all  the  sympathies  of 
friendship  ;  accordingly  we  find  a  local  paper  giving 
the  following  account  of 

"A  BUSINESS  FETE. 

"  On  Friday  last,  the  neighbourhood  of  Nelson- 
street  was  enlivened  by  a  gay  and  busy  movement 
in  the  establishment  of  Messrs.  Budgett.  The  an- 
nual festival  given  to  their  men  was,  on  this  occa- 
sion, provided  for  them  at  the  country  residence  of 


250  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

one  of  the  senior  partners,  Samuel  Budgett,  Esq., 
Kingswood  Hill.  Coaches,  omnibuses,  and  car- 
riages of  nearly  every  description  were  put  in  re- 
quisition to  carry  the  inmates  of  this  hive  of  in- 
dustry to  the  spot.  Ample  preparations  were  there 
found,  both  for  the  recreation  of  the  body  as  well 
as  the  mind ;  and  the  weather,  for  the  most  pfft, 
proving  favourable,  all  seemed  happy  in  exchanging 
the  stale  atmosphere  of  stone  walks  and  walls  for 
the  more  healthy  retreat  of  rural  scenery.  At 
three  o'clock  about  two  hundred  of  their  business 
staff  sat  down  to  a  sumptuous  dinner  in  the  open 
air,  on  the  lawn  adjoining  the  house,  when  'the 
good  cheer '  found  a  cordial  welcome  and  a  hearty 
despatch.  This  being  ended,  the  party  was  soon 
joined  by  their  wives  and  friends,  to  spend  with 
each  other  the  remainder  of  the  day.  Athletic 
exercises,  games,  and  other  amusements,  were  then 
indulged  in  upon  the  spacious  grounds,  whilst  a 
select  band  of  music  in  attendance  kept  up  the 
mirthful  sound,  and  '  made  the  welkin  ring.'  The 
pleasure  grounds,  fruit  garden,  and  shrubberies  were 
all  thrown  open  to  the  company,  and  no  scene 
could  portray  a  happier  appearance  of  self-enjoy- 
ment and  social  union.  In  the  evening,  from  three 
to  four  hundred  assembled  for  tea  under  a  large 
covered  building,  after  which  several  animated 
speeches  were  delivered  by  the  gentlemen  present, 
among  whom  were  the  clergy  and  ministers  of  each 
denomination  in  the  village.  A  beautifully  mount- 
ed silver  inkstand,  procured  from  Mr.  W.  Hodson, 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  251 

Broadmead,  by  the  united  contributions  of  each 
assistant  in  the  concern,  was  then  presented  to  the 
eldest  son,  Mr.  J.  S.  Budgett,  as  a  token  of  their 
sincere  respect  and  attachment.  The  day  closed 
too  quickly  upon  these  mutual  pleasures,  when  all 
returned  with  a  recollection  of  their  social  and  com- 
mercial union.  We  cannot  do  better  than  recom- 
mend a  similar  experiment  to  all  who  wish  to 
cherish  in  their  business  one  common  feeling  of 
interest  which  ought  always  to  exist  between  em- 
ployers and  the  employed." 

The  Rev.  B.  Carvosso  gives  the  following  note 
of  the  same  meeting : — 

"  Not  long  before  I  left  Kingswood,  he  got  all 
liis  commercials,  clerks,  porters,  labourers,  with 
their  families  to  Kingswood,  to  dinner  and  tea. 
There  were  about  four  hundred  of  his  people  pre- 
sent, two  clergymen,  an  Independent  minister,  and 
two  Wesleyan  ministers.  He  gave  a  lengthened 
address,  which  appeared  to  me  of  an  extraordinary 
character;  I  have  often  wished  notes  had  been 
made  of  it,  and  it  had  been  printed.  Of  the  kind, 
I  think  it  was  a  masterpiece,  both  for  its  matter 
and  manner.  Except  on  that  occasion,  I  never 
heard  him  come  out  in  a  set  public  address ;  but 
the  talent  then  displayed  convinced  me  of  the  grasp 
of  his  mind,  and  how  greatly  some  had  mistaken 
him." 

Now,  what  is  there  impossible  in  all  this  ?  and 
what  could  be  more  helpful  to  the  good  feeling  of 


252  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

the  whole  community  than  its  frequent  imitation  ? 
To  see  all  the  inhabitants  of  that  huge  store  pack- 
ing themselves  into  vehicles  with  all  the  glee  of  a 
festivity ;  driving  away  to  the  country  scene  of 
their  master's  residence,  of  their  own  former  la- 
bours; gathering  on  the  fair  lawn,  round  a  table 
where  every  good  thing  abounded,  porter  and 
wagoner,  clerk  and  salesman,  traveller  and  cooper, 
errand-boy  and  principal,  all  sitting  down  in 
hearty  kindred ;  while  five  ministers  come  to  ho- 
nour the  meeting  of  different  grades,  and  show  the 
meeting  of  different  sects.  Then,  the  repast  over, 
the  men  betake  themselves  according  to  taste,  Un- 
restrained and  unawed,  some  to  saunter  round  the 
grounds,  some  to  sports ;  while  the  music  stirs 
them,  and  their  wives,  their  mothers,  their  sweet- 
hearts arrive  to  share  the  pleasure,  and  presently  to 
share  a  grateful  treat  of  tea.  And  the  principal 
and  his  sons  amidst  it  all,  as  the  chief  pleasure- 
takers  of  the  day.  But  after  tea,  it  proves  that  the 
men,  having  learned  that  the  eldest  "  of  the  young 
gentlemen  "  is  about  to  make  a  home  of  his  own, 
have  resolved  that  the  treat  of  the  day  shall  not  be 
all  on  one  side,  and  therefore  a  pretty  silver  ink- 
stand, bearing  grateful  words,  is  presented  with  ex- 
pressions that  honour  all  parties,  and  tend  more  to 
cement  all.  Then  good  wholesome  speeches  are 
made  by  one  and  another — master,  man,  and 
strangers  —  without  our  national  absurdity  of 
toasts ;  and  the  energetic  architect  of  this  pros- 
perity throws  his  whole  heart  into  words  meant  to 


MASTER  AND   MEN.  253 

help  liis  men  to  be  wise,  to  prosper,  and  to  gain 
eternal  life.  One  would  greatly  like  to  have  those 
words  ;  but  they  are  not ; — they  are  gone,  and  he- 
that  spoke  them ; — yet  mayhap  they  live  in  the 
life  and  heart  of  some  youth  who  that  day  heard 
them. 

Now,  those  who  wail  over  the  festive  boards  of 
feudal  times  may  take  both  a  consolation  and  a 
hint  as  to  their  own  age  from  a  scene  like  this. 
Wherein  is  this  commercial  fete  inferior  to  a  mus- 
ter of  rough  men,  used  to  rough  deeds,  and  clatter- 
ing with  rough  weapons — men  whose  dreams  are 
of  foray  and  feud.  These  men  of  trade  are  better 
clad,  better  housed,  better  fed,  better  taught ;  have 
far  more  of  freedom  and  of  opportunity  to  rise  if 
the  ability  to  rise  is  in  them ;  and  they  are  em- 
ployed not  in  broils,  but  in  ministering  to  the  daily 
wants  of  their  neighbours.  They  are  a  better, 
more  useful,  and  more  comfortable  race  incom- 
parably than  the  old  wassailers  of  chivalric  days ; 
and  that  merchant  may  look  upon  his  retainers 
with  an  honest  satisfaction,  for  he  and  they  are 
doing  a  milder,  worthier  work  far  than  the  lords 
and  the  followers  of  ancient  times.  Such  a  scene, 
too,  suggests  the  way  wherein  the  relations  of  com- 
merce may  be  elevated  above  that  leaden  material- 
ism which  too  generally  pervades  them,  and  im- 
bued with  some  moral  warmth,  some  kindred  and 
mutual  feeling.  I  have  lately  been  delighted  to 
hear  of  several  cases  wherein  manufacturers  adopt 
this  practice  of  annually  giving  their  men  an  enter- 


254  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

tainment;  and  it  cannot  be  too  strongly  recom- 
mended, for  such  cases  are  yet  very  rare.  We 
have  heard  of  mind  among  the  spindles,  and  do  let 
us  try  to  get  some  heart  among  them  also. 

The  year  after  the  one  in  which  the  gala  just 
spoken  of  took  place,  another  was  given  in  a  large 
room  in  the  warehouse.  The  room  was  decorated 
with  all  manner  of  evergreens,  devices,  and  mottoes. 
These  were  chosen  by  the  men,  and  indicated  their 
varying  taste, — the  religious  man,  the  man  of  busi- 
ness, the  lover  of  a  pleasantry.  The  meeting  left 
such  a  relish  in  the  memory  of  the  men  that  some 
of  the  mottoes  then  used  had  been  preserved,  and 
were  put  into  my  hand.  The  first  that  meets  my 
eye  was  german  enough  to  the  place  : — 

PERSEVERANCE 

SURMOUNTS 
DIFFICULTIES. 

The  next  which  turns  up  seems  to  have  come  out 
of  a  practical  head  : — 

MAY  POVERTY    BE 

ALWAYS 

a  day's  MARCH   BEHIND  US  ! 

This  is  followed  by  one  which  seemed  to  catch 
the  spirit  of  such  an  entertainment : — 

UNION  OF  OBJECT, 
UNION  OF  EFFORT, 
UNION   OF  FEELING. 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  255 

Here  is  one  emanating  evidently  from  a  mind  in 
which  the  work  of  life  and  the  presiding  power  of 
God  were  seen  in  their  fit  connexion  : — 

THE  BLESSING   OF  THE   LORD  MAKETH   RICH. 

IN   ALL  LABOUR    THERE   IS   PROFIT. 

WHATSOEVER    THY  HAND    FINDETH  TO  DO, 

DO   IT  WITH   ALL  THY  MIGHT. 

This  I  find  followed  by  one  whose  author  seemed 
to  he  moved  by  the  fact  that  the  gentleman  to 
whom  they,  at  the  last  meeting,  presented  the  silver 
inkstand  was  now  about  to  bring  among  them  a 
wife  and  a  party  of  new  relations,  in  whose  presence 
and  connexion  "  with  the  house  "  all  felt,  and  with 
good  reason,  a  personal  honour : — 

THE   SINGLE  MARRIED, 
AND   THE    MARRIED    HAPPY  ! 

Following  this  comes  one,  Avith  a  specially  florid 
border,  which  tells  a  good  tale  of  master  and 
men  : — 

THE  THANKS   OF  THE   ESTABLISHMENT 

ARE   TENDERED  TO 

MESSRS.  H.  H.   AND  S.  BUDGETT  AND   CO., 

FOR  THEIR 

GREAT  LIBERALITY 

IN  PRESENTING 

£100 

TO   THE   SICK  FUND, 

AND  FOR  THE   GENEROUS    MANNER  THEY  WISH  IT 

APPROPRIATED. 


256  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

And  the  last  that  lies  on  my  table  is  well  worthy 
to  be  blazoned  on  such  an  establishment : — 

DILIGENT    IN    BUSINESS, 
FERVENT    IN    SPIRIT. 

The  room  thus  prepared  according  to  the  best 
taste  the  house  could  command,  the  men  were 
met  by  their  superior,  his  family,  their  new  con- 
nexions from  the  great  metropolis,  and  some  other 
friends  whose  presence  was  an  honour.  Refresh- 
ments were  plentiful,  tempers  were  blithe ;  and 
after  a  while  Mr.  Farmer,  of  Gunnersbury  House, 
the  father-in-law  of  the  young  master,  was  called 
to  the  chair,  and  a  flow  of  good  feeling  was  inter- 
changed by  all  parties.  The  speaking  was  not  con> 
fined  to  the  "  platform,"  but  the  men  were  called  upon 
to  speak  freely,  and  use  the  liberty  with  both  spirit 
and  discretion.  According  to  their  turn  of  mind  they 
spoke  of  the  hand  of  Providence  displayed  in  the 
progress  of  "the  business,"  of  the  importance  of 
true  religion,  of  purely  business  topics,  or  of  some 
matter  calculated  to  raise  a  smile.  Fine  feeling, 
pleasure,  cheerfulness,  good  counsel,  and  piety  ran 
through  the  whole  proceedings.  Many  a  hearty 
laugh  was  there,  and  many  a  useful  impression. 
The  speakers  were-  of  all  grades ;  the  oldest  and 
most  respectable  men  in  the  establishment,  the 
younger  clerks,  the  working  men  of  different 
branches,  and  even  the  boys  being  represented. 
One  of  the  leaders  of  the  house  heartily  congratu- 
lated "  our  young  master,"  expressed  their  pleasure 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  257 

at  seeing  so  distinguished  a   gentleman   in  their 
chair,  and   especially  their^pleasure   in  seeing  so 
many  ladies  with  them;  yet,  the  while,   in  good 
home  tones,  to  which  all  kindly  hearts  echoed,  de- 
clared that  after  all,  his  own  fireside  treasure  was 
not  to  be  bartered  for  any  of  them.     The  burden  of 
several  speeches  was  on  the  rise  of  the  business  ;  and 
over  and  over  have  I  heard  the  regret  expressed  that 
no  report  had  been  taken — a  regret  wherein,  certainly, 
I  share.     One  man  had  a  metaphor  which  appears 
to  have  made  a  great  impression,  wherein  the  busi- 
ness was  a  gun,  and  the  different  agencies  answered 
to  the  different  parts  of  the  gun  ;  but  of  all  his  "  ad- 
miring hearers,"  I  have  met  with  none  Who  could 
put  together  the  stock,  lock,  and  barrel,  although 
they  declare  that  the  gun  went  off  with  great  eclat. 
Another  man,  in  rich  Kingswood  accent,  said  that 
once  when  a  boy  he  had  come  up  out  of  a  pit  on  a 
winter  morning  and  found  the  ground  covered  with 
snow.     He  began  to  rowl,  and  rowled  till  he  had  a 
great  big  ball,  O  ever  so  big,  till  he  could  rowl  no 
more ;  but  he  called  another  boy  or  two  and  they 
rowled  and  rowled  till  their  ball  was  monstrous  big ; 
then  they  did  a  leave  it  there.     The  thaw  came  and 
all   the   snow  did  melt  away,  but   their  ball  did 
stand ;  and  after  none  of  the  snow  was  to  be  seen 
nowhere,  the  ball  was  there  a  standing  still.     Now, 
Mr.  Budgett  was  just  like  he :  he  had  a  begun  and 
rowled  and  it  grew  bigger ;  then  he  did  call  first 
one  and  then  another,  and  they  rowled  and  rowled, 
and  here  they  were  all  o'  em ;  every  one  a  rowling 

17 


258  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

as  hard  as  they  could,  and  he  did  n't  know  how 
big  the  ball  would  gi#v  afore  they  had  done  rowl- 
ing;  and  he  was  sure  that  just  like  their  ball,  it 
would  stand  when  a  great  deal  of  others  was  all 
melted  nowhere. 

Now' which  was  the  more  rational, — to  gather  his 
men  and  spend  such  an  evening  with  them — or 
give  a  ball  and  supper  to  a  party  of  rich  people, 
and  introduce  them  to  his  new  alliances  ?  Which 
was  the  more  likely  to  spread  real  happiness,  good 
feeling,  good  principles,  and  good  living?  With 
such  scenes  before  us,  and  with  the  impression  they 
have  plainly  left  on  those  who  partook  of  them,  is 
it  not  altogether  gratuitous  to  consign  the  different 
ranks  of  commercial  life  to  hopeless  alienation? 
They  may  meet,  may  eat  and  drink  together,  may 
kindle  up  good  feeling,  and  may  thus  form  ties 
which  will  unite  men  and  master,  give  a  heart  to 
their  intercourse,  and  render  all  parties  happier  in 
their  lot.  But  the  man  who  wotildAoH  such  festi- 
vities with  full  success,  must  not  be  a  large  gentle- 
man who  will  magnificently  meet  his  men  "  from  a 
sense  of  duty,"  and  speak  in  great  tones  of  the  mu- 
tual interests  of  different  ranks,  and  be  mightily 
condescending.  All  that  will  only  leave  things 
where  it  found  them.  The  man  who  would  do  this 
duty  rightly  must  do  it  from  the  heart,  because  he 
loves  his  men,  delights  in  seeing  them  happy,  and 
feels  that  they  have  a  claim  on  his  best  attentions. 
With  a  heart  so  prepared,  he  will  have  a  winning  cor- 
diality which  will  go  farther  than  even  the  good  fare. 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  259 

The  habit  of  daily  prayer  in  the  establishment, 
which  we  noticed  in  our  first  chapter,  had  existed 
from  the  beginning.  When  the  business  was  only 
retail,  all  were  gathered  together  as  a  family ;  and 
when  it  branched  out  into  an  extensive  concern  a 
portion  of  the  premises  at  Kingswood  was  set  apart 
as  a  "  chapel,"  and  still  stands  there  serving  many 
sacred  purposes.  In  Nelson-street  this  admirable 
habit  was  maintained,  and  there  also  a  room  de- 
voted to  thi»  purpose.  More  than  once  I  have 
taken  part  with  the  men  in  their  united  devotions, 
au^  that  with  delight  and  thanksgiving.  Yon  could 
not  help  feeling  that  a  better  tone  must  be  created 
amongst  those  men  by  this  daily  pause  in  their 
haste,  this  hearing  of  the  Holy  Word,  this  bowing 
at  the  awful  yet  gracious  throne.  One  of  those  who 
knew  every  joint  of  the  establishment,  who  had 
risen  with  it  and  loved  it  as  if  it  were  his  own,  (a 
feeling,  by  the  way,  which  I  found  more  among  the 
servants  of  that  establishment  than  amonjr  those  of 
any  other  with  whom  I  have  ever  conversed,)  re- 
marked how  this  practice  tended  to  induce  among 
the  men  order  and  regularity  of  life,  even  where  de- 
cided piety  was  not  the  result.  "  Besides,  you  see, 
sir,  in  this  way  the  men  get  to  pray  for  the  blessings 
of  God  on  the  business,  and  there  is  a  great  deal  in 
that.  Many  would  like  to  get  to  the  elevation  we 
have  reached,  but  they  cannot  without  the  same 
blessing." 

In  the  Christian  Miscellany  for  1847,  is  the  fol- 
lowing account,  written  by  one  then  living  at  Kings- 


260  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

wood,  the  scene  of  which  you  will  have  no  difficulty 
in  recognising : — 

"EXAMPLE  TO  MERCANTILE  ESTABLISHMENTS. 

'  Not  slothful  in  business  ;  fervent  in  spirit.' 

"On  the  2d  of  November,  1846,  after  a  drive 
of  several  miles  from  the  country,  at  half-past  seven 
in  the  morning,  T  dropped  unintentionally  into  the 

extensive  and  busy  warehouse  of ,  in . 

I  heard  singing,  '  the  voice  of  rejoicing  and  salva- 
tion,' in  one  of  the  upper  rooms.     The  senior  clerk 
said  to  me,  'Our  men  are  engaged  in  moriyng 
prayer :  will  you  not  step  up  and  see  them  ?     Do, 
sir.'      At  once  deeply  interested,  I  ascended,  and 
entered  a  room  thirty-five  or  forty  feet  long,  fur- 
nished  with'  benches,   having   comfortable    backs, 
closely  placed,  and  at  the  upper  end  was  a  table 
and  a  large  fire.     How  was  I  surprised  and  de- 
lighted to  find  from  fifty  to  one  hundred,  (for  every 
seat  seemed  occupied  with  its  complement,)  chiefly 
porters  in  their  white  frocks,  all  sitting  in  the  still- 
ness and  seriousness  of  family  devotion !     At  the 
table  sat  an  interesting,  devout  labourer,  giving  out 
one  of  our  beautiful  hymns  with  a  tenderness  and 
pathos  that  touched  my  heart ;  while  the  singing 
was  conducted  with  a  sweetness  and  harmony  that 
charmed  and  edified.     The  hymn-book  was  offered 
to  me;  but  I  declined  it.     After  singing,  I  was 
again  requested  to  lead  their  devotions.     The  Bible 
lay  open  on  the  table  at  t\e  twenty-fifth  chapter  of 
St.  Matthew.     I  read  the  appropriate  parables  of 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  261 

the  virgins  and  the  talents.  We  then  fell  on  our 
knees  and  worshipped  the  God  of  all  commerce  in 
earth  and  seas ;  when  every  man  rose  to  attend  the 
call  of  duties.  I  felt  it  no  common  privilege  to  join 
with  those  praying  porters  and  devout  clerks;  and 
the  scene,  so  good,  and  coming  so  unexpectedly,  I  as- 
sure you,  Mr.  Editor,  has  left  an  impression  on  me 
I  shall  not  soon  forget.  Is  not  this  an  example 
to  all  commercial  establishments;  an  example 
worthy  of  general  imitation  ?  Here  is  a  noble 
room  for  the  daily  worship  of  God  in  the  heart  of 
a  range  of  warehouses,  and  the  large  number  of 
hands  employed  therein  have  a  regular  portion  of 
time  allotted  them  for  that  holy  purpose.  Nor  is 
time  whiled  away  here :  the  porters  and  clerks  are 
all  required  to  be  on  the  premises  at  six  o'clock 
every  morning,  or  pay  a  small  fine  in  case  of  delin- 
quency, as  well  as  forfeit  the  master's  daily  pecu- 
niary reward  for  punctuality.  Some  of  the  men 
live  four  miles  distant ;  but  the  habit  of  punctuality 
is  so  established,  that  certain  of  them  have  never 
been  once  subject  to  the  forfeiture  through  a  long- 
course  of  years.  Precision,  order,  energy,  and  ex- 
actness are  principles  engraved  on  every  depart- 
ment of  the  vast  business  here  conducted.  But 
everything  is  '  sanctified  by  the  word  of  God  and 
prayer ;'  and  therefore  it  is  no  matter  of  astonish- 
ment to  those  who  have  faith  in  the  Bible,  that  the 
energetic  and  worthy  proprietor  of  this  exemplary 
mercantile  establishment,  in  addition  to  his  having 
much   peace  and  piety  among  his  men,  has  risen 


262  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

from  small  and  low  beginnings  to  great  wealth  and 
prosperity.  '  Him  that  honoureth  me,  I  will 
honour.'  A  Wesleyan  Minister." 

Ah !  say,  if  all  the  good  men  in  the  world  went 
into  your  warehouse  every  day  in  the  year  and  all 
the  day  long,  would  they  ever  witness  a  scene  which 
would  make  them  thank  God?  Would  they  ever 
see  anything  to  prove  that  you  wished  to  teach  your 
men  that  they  had  souls  to  prepare  for  life  eternal  ? 
The  blessing  of  which  my  good  friend  to  whom  I 
referred  above  spoke  was  surely  upon  that  establish- 
ment in  answer  to  prayer.  Mr.  Carvosso  says : — 
"  I  have  heard  some  of  his  neighbour  tradesmen 
speak  as  if  he  rose  by  magic,  and  the  matters  of 
Xelson-street  were  an  affair  of  legerdemain.  'He 
sells,'  said  one  to  me,  'cheaper  than  he  buys;  I 
know  he  does,  from  what  he  has  bought  of  me : 
there  is  some  deep  mystery  in  his  affairs.'  So  spoke 
a  man  of  business  not  his  friend.  "Well,  I  will  not 
say  that  the  sjxll  of  Heaven  was  not  upon  him : 
'  There  is  that  scattereth  and  yet  increaseth ;  there 
is  that  withholdeth  more  than  is  meet,  but  it  tendeth 
to  poverty.'  Joseph  was  '  a  prosperous  man '  by  the 
peculiar  blessing  of  God ;  so  was  Samuel  Budgett." 

On  witnessing  the  scene  at  "family  prayer,"  it 
immediately  struck  me  that  a  man  of  the  world 
would  expect  such  an  establishment  to  be  prolific  of 
hypocrites ;  therefore  I  asked  the  senior  just  alluded 
to,  if  he  could  remember  many  cases  having  oc- 
curred in  the  course  of  his  service,  wherein  men 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  263 

professing  religion  had  played  fold  with  the  firm. 
The  question  was  new  to  him,  and  gave  him  some 
surprise : — "  Well,  I  have  been  about  twenty-five 
years  in  the  house,  and  we  have  had  members  of 
the  different  Churches — of  the  Establishment,  Inde- 
pendents, Baptists,  Quakers,  and  many  Wesley- 
ans, — and  we  have  had  a  few  cases  of  pilfering  and 
dishonesty  ;  but  I  do  not  remember  any  case  of  that 
happening  with  a  man  who  was  a  member  of  any 
Church."  He  then  detailed  one  or  two  instances  of 
dishonesty  and  detection.  At  a  subsequent  inter- 
view he  said,  that  he  believed  one  of  the  persons  he 
had  named  had  been  taken  by  another  of  the  men, 
only  the  week  before  his  detection,  to  a  class-meeting 
connected  with  the  Wesleyan  body ;  but  that  was 
all  the  approach  he  had  made  to  membership. 
This  fact  is  very  remarkable :  the  blessing  daily  in- 
voked was  not  fruitless ;  the  moral  tone  maintained 
was  powerful  in  restraining;  and  doubtless  much 
was  due  to  Mr.  Budgett's  firm  opposition  to  all  im- 
posture, and  keen  insight  into  men.  Had  he  been 
slow  to  discover  or  lax  to  punish  deception,  without 
doubt  he  would  have  reared  a  numerous  race  of  fair- 
faced  impostors ;  but  under  his  eye  false  pretence 
shrank  and  despaired.  The  result  is  one  that  reli- 
gious masters  should  well  ponder ;  every  ruler  ought 
to  be  a  terror  to  evil  doers,  as  well  as  a  praise  to 
them  that  do  well.  That  is  the  example  set  by  the 
great  Ruler  and  his  counsel  to  all  rulers. 

We   before  alluded  to  a  system  by  which  Mr. 
Budgett  had  transgressors    reported  to  him ;    and 


264  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

whether  the  complaint  was  respecting  business  or 
character,  the  defaulter  was  sent  for  into  the  private 
office,  and  had  to  confront  the  master  alone.  His 
words  of  rebuke  were  generally  short  and  telling ; 
but  in  a  grave  case  he  would  take  much  pains  to 
make  a  favourable  moral  impression  on  the  man. 
To  boys  he  would  often,  besides  advice,  give  a 
book,  such  as  James's  "  Young  Man  from  Home," 
or  "  A  Father's  Counsels  to  a  Son."  You  may  re- 
member the  old  man  who  told  of  the  money-givings 
at  the  gothic  door:  I  asked  him,  "Did  he  ever 
speak  to  you  about  your  soul  ?"  "  Often,  sir,"  was 
the  pensive  reply,  as  if  the  tone  reproached  a  too 
heedless  hearing.  The  bare  fact  of  having,  in  case 
of  fault,  to  go  alone  into  "  the  private  office,"  was 
no  small  poise  against  transgression,  and  this  per- 
sonal contact  with  the  master  must  have  had  far 
more  effect  than  any  rebuke  by  deputy,  or  a  punish- 
ment without  such  moral  application.  If  any  man 
repeatedly  transgressed,  "He  would  never  do  us 
any  good,  the  sooner  he  is  off  the  premises  the  bet- 
ter," was  the  conclusion,  and  he  must  be  discharged. 
Indulgence  to  wrong  doing  is  no  kindness  to  an  in- 
dividual ;  and  to  a  community  it  is  ruinous.  Cruelty 
could  not  desire  anything  more  than  rulers  Avho 
would  treat  good  and  evil  alike.  In  a  community 
where  offences  rise,  punishment  is  not  the  work  of 
cruelty  but  of  goodness  ;  the  suffering  of  the  culprit 
being  the  protection  of  the  community  from  univer- 
sal corruption  and  misery.  Too  great  severity  and 
too  great  laxity  both  show  an  unfit  ruler;  but  total 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  265 

laxity  is  the  greatest  plague  to  which  family,  town, 
or  nation,  could  be  subjected. 

You  will  gather,  then,  that  as  a  master  Mr. 
Budgett  expected  full  tale  of  service,  —  expected 
order,  zeal,  and  industry ;  that  he  carefully  trained 
his  men  to  the  most  useful  habits  of  business,  and 
strictly  repressed  irregularity  or  ill  conduct ;  that  he 
rewarded  diligence,  provided  for  their  relief  in  sick- 
ness, brought  their  hours  of  labour  within  a  mode- 
rate  limit,  proved  their  friend  in  time  of  need,  and 
encouraged  them  to  rise;  that  he  was  familiar  in 
intercourse,  and  loved  to  meet  them  in  temperate 
but  cheerful  festivities ;  that  he  did  not  forget  they 
were  immortal,  but  took  means  to  lead  them  to  re- 
member their  Creator,  to  cultivate  the  godliness 
which  "  hath  the  promise  both  of  the  life  that  now 
is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come."  In  all  this,  has 
he  not  left  a  lesson  which  many  masters  may  study 
with  advantage  ? 

To  the  Rev.  John  Gaskin,  Rector  of  St.  Cuthbert's, 
Bedford,  who  was  for  years  incumbent  of  Kings- 
wood,  I  am  indebted  for  the  following  beautiful 
sketch,  which  will  throw  a  clearer  light  on  many  of 
the  points  touched  in  this  chapter  and  on  Mr. 
Budgett's  character  generally.  The  reader  will  pre- 
fer it  in  the  free  style  in  which  it  has  been  furnished 
for  my  use,  rather  than  if  moulded  into  formal 
quotations : — 

"I  ought,  perhaps,  to  introduce  my  remarks  by 
admitting  that  my  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Samuel 
Budgett  commenced  under  circumstances  of  very 


266  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

strong  prejudice  against  him.  The  origin  of  this 
feeling  is  not  a  matter  of  importance  to  any.  My 
only  motive  in  making  the  allusion  is  to  do  justice  to 
the  integrity  of  character,  the  amiability  of  disposi- 
tion, the  forbearance  of  temper  which  ultimately 
broke  down  so  formidable  a  barrier  against  close 
and  loving  friendship. 

"  At  the  time  of  which  I  write,  and  for  several 
years  afterwards,  the  business  premises  of  the  Messrs. 
Budgett  stood  on  Kingswood  Hill.  I  imagine  there 
could  not  have  been,  even  then,  less  than  a  hundred 
pair  of  hands  in  their  employ.  Of  these  parties, 
some  were  under  articles  of  apprenticeship — youths 
of  respectable  parentage  with  whom  handsome  pre- 
miums had  been  paid,  and  whose  temporary  home 
was  in  the  family  of  one  of  the  partners ;  others 
were  young  unmarried  men,  having,  generally,  apart- 
ments in  the  village ;  others,  again,  were  heads  of 
families,  occupying  houses  in  the  neighbourhood. 
You  can  easily  conceive  with  how  much  solicitude 
my  attention  was  directed  to  this  very  important 
section  of  my  parishioners;  and  how  largely  my 
heart  was  relieved  from  anxietv  on  their  account,  as 
time  passed  on  and  revealed  to  me  the  extent  to 
which  their  best  interests  were  provided  for  by  those 
on  whom  the  responsibility  so  immediately  rested. 

"  I  have  spoken  of  prejudice  in  my  mind.  This 
was  partly  produced  by  the  remarks  of  persons  who, 
I  afterwards  discovered,  had  yet  to  learn  the  motives 
which  should  actuate  Christian  masters  in  regard  t<> 
those  whom  God  had  brought  under  their  influence. 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  267 

The  process   under  which   my  mind  was  disabused 
of  the  prejudice  which  had  been  thus  inspired,  was 
the  most  favourable  for  all  parties.     My  first  correct 
impressions  of  the  internal  arrangements  connected 
with  this  '  gigantic  hive '  as  it  has  been  called,  were 
gathered  out  of  doors  in  my  ministerial  intercourse 
with  the  families  of  those  who  were  employed  in  it. 
I  have  a  clear  recollection  of  the  very  first  incident 
of  this  kind  that  occurred  to  me.     My  call  was  at 
the  dwelling  of  one  of  Mr.  Budgett's  clerks.     I  had 
had  frequent  interviews  with  him,  but  on  this  occa- 
sion he  was  from  home.     His  wife  took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  thanking  me  for  the  interest  I  appeared  to 
take  in  her  husband,  and  earnestly  expressed  her 
gratitude  for  the  kind  Providence  which  had  directed 
their  steps  to  Kingswood.     They  had  formerly  been 
in  business  for  themselves,  and  their  circumstances 
had  been  those  of  comparative  affluence;  but  they 
had  experienced  sad  reverses,  and  these,  I  subse- 
quently learned  from   the   husband  himself,  were 
mainly  to  be  attributed  to  his  own  irregular  habits. 
For  months  they  had  been  without  a  home ;  every 
effort  to  procure  employment  had  failed ;  for  clays 
together  they  had  scarcely  had  food ;  and — to  use 
the  poor  woman's  own  words — '  when  we  came  into 
this  house,  we  had  scarcely  anything  around  us  but 
the  bare  walls.'     Mr.  Budgett,  she  informed  me,  had 
promised,  through  some  friends,  to  give  her  husband 
a  trial,  and  it  was  this  which  had  brought  them  to 
Kingswood.     '  I  shall  never  forget,'  she  said,  '  my 
husband's  feelings  when  he  came  in  after  having 


268  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

seen  Mr.  Budgett  for  the  first  time.  He  wept  like 
a  child — indeed,  we  both  wept,  for  it  was  so  long 
since  anybody  had  been  kind  to  us.  Mr.  Budgett 
had  been  speaking  to  him  like  a  father ;  but  what 
affected  him  most  was  this, — when  he  had  signed 
the  agreement,  Mr.  Budgett  took  him  from  the 
counting-house  into  a  small  parlour  in  his  own 
house,  and  offered  up  a  prayer  for  him  and  his 
family.'  In  a  short  time  after  this,  (I  think  she 
said,  the  very  next  day,)  Mr.  Budgett's  sister — '  Miss 
Elizabeth ' — had  come  down,  and  after  a  few  delicate 
inquiries  about  furniture,  bedding,  and  clothing,  ar- 
rangements had  been  made  for  placing  them  in  cir- 
cumstances of  comfort.     Mrs. added,  that  from 

the  time  of  her  husband's  having  entered  into  Mr. 
Budgett's  employment,  he  had  been  a  different  man  ; 
all  his  tastes  seemed  to  have  undergone  a  chancre : 
their  means  were  limited,  it  was  true,  compared 
with  what  they  once  had  been, — but  they  were  now 
in  the  enjoyment  of  a  happiness  to  which  they  were 
strangers  when  they  were  surrounded  by  what  they 
used  to  regard  as  the  comforts  of  life.  In  con- 
cluding her  story,  she  remarked,  '  Mr. always 

says  that  the  secret  of  Mr.  Budgett's  success  in 
business  lies  in  his  true  religion.' 

"  And  Mr. was  right.  Never  have  I  wit- 
nessed such  a  remarkable  instance  of  a  firm  of  mer- 
cantile men  being  guided  by  the  Saviour's  injunc- 
tion, '  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 
righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  vou.' 


MASTER  AND   MEN.  269 

"  As  circumstances  brought  me  into  more  frequent 
and  closer  communication  with  the  heads  of  the 
firm,  I  had  better  opportunities  for  accurately  ob- 
serving the  internal  arrangements  of  their  establish- 
ment, and  the  principles  by  which  they  seemed  to 
be  guided  in  every  department  of  its  operations. 
The  more  I  saw,  the  more  I  admired  ;  and  the  longer 
the  time  I  have  had  for  revolving  my  growing  im- 
pressions, the  more  I  am  satisfied  that  they  were 
fairly  deduced.  It  was  scarcely  possible  to  enter 
the  premises  without  being  struck  with  the  marvel- 
lous tone  of  order  which  pervaded  every  part  of  the 
busy  scene.  I  recall,  at  this  very  moment,  the 
manner  and  exclamation  of  an  intelligent  youth 
who,  while  spending  part  of  one  of  his  vacations  at 
the  parsonage,  happened  to  be  with  me  when  I  was 
calling:  on  Mr.  Budp-ett.  On  enterino-  the  counting- 
house  I  missed  my  young  friend,  and  when  I  stepped 
back  to  look  for  him,  I  found  him  standing  in  the 
middle  of  one  of  the  warehouses,  gazing  in  an  atti- 
tude of  utter  astonishment.  When  he  caught  sight 
of  me,  he  lifted  up  his  hands,  and  exclaimed — 

t  Hoc  opus,  hie  labor  est.' 

Indeed,  the  most  ordinary  spectator  must  have  ob- 
served, at  a  glance,  that  every  movement  he  wit- 
nessed was  under  the  control  of  one  head, — that 
every  person,  from  the  mere  boy  who  Avas  nimbly 
picking  up  the  crooked  nails  by  the  side  of  a  newly- 
opened  hogshead,  to  the  sedate  clerk  who  was  sitting 
ever  his  calculations  at  the  desk,  felt  that  he  had  a 


270  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

work  to  do;  and,  judging  from  the  intense  earnest- 
ness of  his  manner,  that  he  felt  also  that  his  interest, 
nay,  his  happiness,  no  less  than  his  duty,  lay  in  his 
doing  that  work  well.  If  the  spectator  sought  for 
the  secret  influence  which  was  at  work,  producing 
this  result,  he  must  step>  within,  and  get  such  an  in- 
sight into  the  real  character  of  the  controlling  head, 
as  might  enable  him  to  appreciate  the  sympathetic 
thrill  which  could  not  fail  to  be  caught  from  a  spirit 
earnestly  at  work,  feeling  that  the  work  was  law- 
ful,— that  it  must  be  sustained  not  for  self  only,  but 
for  the  good  of  others  also, — and  that,  to  secure 
success,  it  must  be  carried  on  constantly  in  the  fear 
of  God. 

"  The  influence  of  these  principles  ought  to  have 
been  felt  from  the  very  first  day  on  which  any  per- 
son might  have  entered  into  Mr.  Budgett's  employ. 
The  domestic  arrangements  were  such  that  the 
youth,  fresh  from  school,  was  taught  to  begin  and 
end  the  business  of  each  day  in  the  privacy  of  the 
closet ;  and  the  same  salutary  lesson  was  taught  to 
the  entire  body  of  the  employed  as  far  as  circum- 
stances would  admit,  for  they  were  statedly  assem- 
bled in  a  private  chapel  on  the  premises  for  morning 
prayer.  I  well  remember  how  grateful  to  my  own 
heart  was  the  discovery  that  every  youth  in  that 
establishment  had  his  own  private  sleeping  apart- 
ment, with  the  express  understanding  that  this  ar- 
rangement was  made  in  order  that  he  might  feel 
himself  alone  with  his  Father  who  is  in  heaven, 
when,  at  suitable  times,  he  might  be  disposed  to 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  271 

retire  for  the  reading  of  the'  Scriptures,  meditation, 
and  prayer;  and  well  do  I  remember  my  feelings 
when  first  I  heard  from  within  the  walls  of  that 
little  unpretending  chapel, — now  how  doubly  dear, 
from  the  recollection  that  loved  ones,  then  on  earth, 
but  now  in  heaven,  were  wont  to  worship  there ! — 
well  do  I  recall  the  thrill  of  devout  gratitude  to  God 
which  came  over  my  soul,  when  from  those  walls  I 
first  heard  the  volume  of  manly  voice  raised  in  holy 


song- 


'  Forth  in  thy  name,  0  Lord,  I  go, 

My  daily  labour  to  pursue  ; 
Thee,  only  thee,  resolved  to  know, 

In  all  I  think,  or  speak,  or  do. 

'  The  task  thy  wisdom  hath  assign'd 

0  let  me  cheerfully  fulfil ! 
In  all  my  works  thy  presence  find, 

And  prove  thy  acceptable  will. 

'  Thee  may  I  set  at  my  right  hand, 
Whose  eyes  my  inmost  substance  see  ; 

And  labour  on  at  thy  command, 
And  offer  all  my  works  to  thee. 

'  Give  me  to  bear  thy  easy  yoke, 
And  every  moment  watch  and  pray  ; 

And  still  to  things  eternal  look, 
And  hasten  to  thy  glorious  day. 

'  For  thee  delightfully  employ, 
Whate'er  thy  bounteous  grace  hath  given  ; 

And  run  my  course  with  even  joy, 

And  closely  walk  with  thee  to  heaven.' 

What  was  thus  devoutly  commenced  in  the  retire- 
ment of  the  closet,  or  in   domestic  worship  on  a 


272  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

large  scale,  was  followed  up  practically  in  the  busi- 
ness arrangements  throughout  the  day.  A  con- 
scientious regard  to  order,  punctuality,  and  just 
dealing  was  obvious  to  any  intelligent  observer. 
Hooker's  motto,  '  Order,  heaven's  first  law,'  seemed 
to  be  the  grand  pervading  principle  over  every 
movement  of  hand  or  foot.  There  was  haste,  but  no 
hurry  ;  despatch,  but  no  confusion.  Every  one  Avas 
taught  that  irregularity  on  his  part  might  be  fatal 
to  the  regularity  of  another,  and,  therefore,  he  must 
avoid  it.  Punctuality  was  another  remarkable 
feature.  I  have  known  the  driver  of  the  convey- 
ance which  was  sent  into  Bristol  three  times  a  week 
for  the  convenience  of  the  inhabitants  on  the  Hill, 
■  rebuked  for  waiting  for  his  own  master  and  thus 
entailing  inconvenience  on  the  parties  who  had 
taken  their  seats  at  the  proper  time.  Here,  again, 
the  lesson  was  constantly  enforced,  that  the  want  of 
punctuality  might  inflict  an  injury  on  others,  and, 
therefore,  such  an  evil  was  to  be  diligently  guarded 
against.  Principles  of  just  dealing,  also,  were 
constantly  being  urged.  It  Avas  carried  into  the 
minutest  matters,  and,  like  all  besides,  enforced  on 
the  principles  of  the  SaA-iour's  'golden  rule.'  I 
have  knoAvn  a  young  man  expostulated  Avith  for 
using  more  tAvine  than  Avas  necessary  in  making  up 
a  parcel ;  and  another  person's  servant  admonished 
that  the  time  he  was  spending  in  gossip  Avas  his 
master's — not  his  OAvn.  I  was  once  passing  through 
one  of  the  Avarehouses  with  Mr.  Budgett,  Avhen  he 
observed  a  young  man  cutting  paper  for  bags  in  a 


MUSTEK  AND  MEN.  273 

manner  which  incurred  loss  of  time  and  waste  of 
material.  He  pointed  out  to  him  the  mistake  in 
the  kindest  manner,  folded  the  paper  and  cut  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  it  himself,  and  having  thus  de- 
monstrated his  point  both  in  regard  to  material  and 
time,  he  remarked,  '  Of  course  it  will  be  wrong  to 
me  should  you  recur  to  your  former  method  in  this 
matter ;  and  I  know  you  would  not  wish  to  injure 
your  employer,  even  in  so  small  a  thing  as  this. 
But  see  the  injury  you  will  do  yourself,  should  you 
ever  have  a  business  of  your  own  and  not  have  ac- 
quired the  most  economical  method  of  doing  things 
of  this  kind.'  On  another  occasion  I  was  with 
him, — he.  was  passing  through  the  'Fruit-room' 
with  his  usually  quick  step, — when  his  equally 
sharp  eye  caught  the  balance  of  a  pair  of  scales 
which  were  being  at  that  moment  used :  the  poise 
was  against  the  customer.  Never  shall  I  forget  the 
sharpness  of  the  rebuke  which  that  young  man  re- 
ceived. Months  had  elapsed  between  this  incident 
and  the  one  I  have  just  named,  for  they  were  during 
two  separate  visits  from  Bedford  to  Bristol;  but  I 
immediately  contrasted  in  my  own  mind  the  severe 
tone  of  the  rebuke  administered  when  the  interest 
of  another  was  affected,  with  the  mild  and  gentle 
remonstrance  when  only  self  appeared  to  be  con- 
cerned. I  may  just  add  here,  that  severity  was  by 
no  means  congenial  to  his  nature;  indeed,  the 
gentleness  of .  his  temper  stood  out  in  marvellous 
relief  from  the  general  energy  of  his  character. 
On  the  occasion  alluded  to,  when,  some  hours  after- 

1R 


274  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

wards,  we  were  walking  together  in  one  of  his 
shrubberies,  he  stopped  short  and  said,  '  I  have 
been  thinking  a  good  deal  about  my  manner  this 

morning  with .     Do  you  think  I  was  too 

sharp  with  him  ?'     I  replied,  '  Well,  I  confess  that 
I  should  have  been  afraid  of  you  for  the  next  six 
months  if  you  had  given  me  such  a  rating  ;  and  I  am 
sure  you  would  not  wish  any  of  your  young  men  to 
be  afraid  of  you.'     '  You 're  right !'  he  rejoined,  'I 
was  too  sharp;  I've  done   mischief:  I  see  it  all. 
I  've  not  only  made  him  afraid  of  seeing  me,  but — ' 
and  he  lowered  his  voice,  and  changing  his  na- 
turally  quick  mode  of  speaking,   he    added  very 
solemnly,    '  I  have  brought  a  reproach    on    Chris-  . 
tianity  !'  and  then  with  a  look  of  peculiar  meekness, 
he  said,  '  My  Saviour  never  so  rebuked  me  !     I  've 
done  wrong ;  I  '11  send  for  him  into  the  counting- 
house  the  next  time  I  go  into  Bristol.     I  '11  repeat 
to  him  how  wrong  it  was  of  him  to  be  so  careless, 
and  I'll  tell  him  hoio  wrong  it  tvas  of  me  to  speak 
so  harshly  to  him.'     Those  who  knew  my  dear 
'  Uncle  Samuel,'  will  have  no  difficulty  in  realizing 
to  themselves  what  must  have  occurred  in  the  pri- 
vate counting-house  when  he  next  went  into  Bristol. 
"  You  know  the  astonishing  influence  which  Mr. 
Budgett  always  seemed  to  hold  over  those  in  his 
employment.     The  secret  of  that  influence  was  to 
be  traced  to  their  personal  attachment  to  him,  and 
the  master-spring  of  that   attachment  was  to  be 
found  in  the  living  sympathy  which  every  one  in 
the  establishment,  from   the  very  stripling  to  the 


MASTER  AN"D   MEN.  275 

man  of  hoary  hairs,  knew  he  had  lying  deep  in  his 
employer's  breast.  I  have  found  him  poring  over 
the  sheet  of  card-board  containing  the  names  of  all 
the  persons  in  his  employment.  '  Here 's  a  task !' 
he  would  exclaim,  as  I  entered  the  private  counting- 
house,  '  Come,  I  hope  you  can  stay ;  you  're  the 
very  man  I  want ;  sit  down ;  you  '11  help  me  essen- 
tially. I  'm  canvassing  this  list  of  names  one  by 
one,  and  considering  what  I  shall  have  to  say  to 
each.  I  must  see  every  one  who  is  named  here. 
Some   I  shall   have   to  commend — that's   always 

pleasant  to   me.     There 's ;   he 's   a   truly 

valuable  fellow — always  punctual,  always  correct ; 
call  for  that  man's  books  at  any  moment,  you  won't 
find  a  figure  unposted ; — and  accurate  to  a  stroke 
of  the  pen,  why  you  won't  find  an  i  undotted  ;  what 
is  more,  he 's  a  good  man, — indeed  you  always  see 
the  two  things  go  together.  I  intend  to  make  that 
man  a  present  at  stock-taking,  and  I  hope  I  shall 
be  able  to  give  him  something  worth  his  acceptance. 
There  again  ;  there 's  your  '  little  friend.'  His  head 
grows  wiser  and  his  heart  grows  better  every  day, 
but  his  body  does  not  grow  a  bit  bigger.  Every 
word  you  used  to  say  about  him  seems  to  be 
coming  true.  I  sometimes  look  at  him  as  he  is 
standing  before  me  by  the  side  of  half-a-dozen  full- 
grown  men,  and  I  think,  if  all  your  great  fellows 
were  rolled  into  one,  the  mass  of  you  would  not  be 

half  as  really  great  as  "  little ."     And  here 's 

a  little  fellow  we  have  in  the  yard :  he  was  in  your 
school.     He's  as  sharp  as  a  needle.     T  hope  he 


2*76  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

will  prove  to  have  good  principles.  I  think  he's 
truthful.  I  shall  bring  him  out  of  the  yard  by-and- 
by  and  place  him  where  I  can  see  more  of  him. 
If  he  proves  to  be  as  wrell  principled  as  he  is  active 
and  intelligent,  he  shall  learn  the  trade,  and  we  '11 
try  to  make  a  man  of  him.'  '  Yes,'  he  would  add 
emphatically,  '  it  's  always  pleasant  to  commend. 
But  the  fault-finding  part  of  the  business  !' — and  a 
heaviness  of  spirit  would  seem  to  come  over  him, 
softening,  for  the  moment,  his  sharp,  keen  eye — 
'  how  I  wish  you  would  relieve  me  of  this !  But 
no  ;  it  is  a  duty  for  which  I  am  responsible  to  God, 
and  I  will  discharge  it  myself.'  He  would  then 
proceed  with  the  names  which  he  had  ticked  with 
his  pencil ;  he  would  continue  his  comments  as  he 
went  on,  but  in  a  tone  intimating  a  sadness  of  spirit 
corresponding  with  the  difference  of  character  which 
lie  was  now  noting  ;  and  occasionally  he  would  ask 
my  opinion  with  regard  to  the  positions  he  intended 
to  take  in  his  reproofs  or  his  encouragements.  It 
was  but  seldom  I  made  a  remark  in  reply,  beyond 
one  of  mere  pleasantry.  When,  however,  I  did  of- 
fer a  suggestion,  such  was  the  humility  of  the  man, 
it  was  generally  adopted,  and  always  acknowledged 
in  a  manner  far  beyond  its  worth.  For  example : — 
In  one  instance,  he  was  proposing  to  point  out  a 
certain  youth  in  the  establishment  by  way  of  ex- 
ample to  another.  I  ventured  to  remark,  that  if  he- 
did  so  he  would  probably  inspire  bad  feelings  to- 
wards his  beau  ideal  in  the  breast  of  the  boy  be 
wished  to  benefit.     He  caught  at  the  idea  in  a  mo- 


MASTER  AND   MEN.  277 

ment.     '  You're  right,'  lie  said,  '  I  see,  I  must  not 

do  it ;  and  yet  I  am  almost  sorry,  because 

is  just  the  boy  I  could  wish  the  other  to  imitate ; 
for  his  age  and  the  length  of  time  he  has  been  with 
us,  he  is  all  I  could  wish  him  to  be.     But,  as  you 
very  properly  observe,  it  will  be  an  ill  requital  to 
render  him,  by  any  act  of  mine,  the  victim  of  envy 
or  bad  feeling.     What  shall  I  do  V     I  mentioned 
to  him  a  method  that  Cecil  sometimes  pursued  in 
the  pulpit,  and  advised  him  to  adapt  it  to  the  case 
before  us.     'Keep- A,'    I  said,    'steadily  in  your 
mind,  but  don't  name  him ;  describe  all  the  excel- 
lences with  the  love  of  which  you  would  inspire  B, 
and  to  the  cultivation  of  which  you  desire  to  pro- 
voke him ;  only  take  care  to  assure  him  that  you 
have  seen  all  this  in  a  boy  not  older  than  himself. 
If  you  leave  him  under  the  impression  that  your 
standard  of  excellency  is  only  to  be  found  in  a  man, 
you  will  probably  repress  any  little  disposition  he 
may  have  to  make  the  effort  you  require ;  but  let 
him  see  that  the  model  you  propose  for  his  imita- 
tion is  really  a  boy  of  the  same  age  and  under  the 
same  circumstances  as  himself,  and  he  will  feel  and 
own  that  he  has  before  him  a  standard  which  he 
may  and  ought  to  reach.'    Most  warmly  he  thanked 
me,  and  added,  '  I  shall  make  that  hint  tell  in  more 
cases  than  this.     But,  Cecil!  Cecil!     I've  heard 
that  name.     Who  was  he  V     I  explained,  and  told 
him  of  a  little  book  of  his — '  Cecil's  Remains ' — 
which  was  always  lying  on  my  library  table.     His 
more    intimate   friends    will    anticipate    what    fob 


278  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MEKCHANT. 

lowed : — '  That 's  the  sort  of  book  I  like,  sharp, 
short,  and  decisive, — order  it  for  me,  will  you,  the 
next  time  you  go  to  your  bookseller's.' 

"  I  have  said  how  thankfully  my  relative  received 
the  smallest  hint  that  he  might  turn  to  the  advan- 
tage of  those  in  his  employment.  This  was  the 
more  remarkable  in  one  who  stood  so  little  in  need 
of  counsel  on  this  score.  Indeed,  he  was  superior 
to  any  man  I  have  ever  known  for  his  penetrating 
insight  into  character,  and  for  his  ability  to  deal 
with  the  specific  case  before  him.  He  would  call  a 
young  man  aside,  in  a  few  minutes  draw  from  him 
the  acknowledgment  of  the  very  failing  he  had  ob- 
served in  him  and  which  he  wished  to  correct,  and 
then,  having  kindly  but  pointedly  shown  him  the 
consequences  of  such  a  failing  through  life  if  not 
remedied,  he  would  dismiss  him  with  a  few  simple 
but  pungent  words  of  advice — advice  of  such  a  na- 
ture, couched  in  such  terms,  and  breathed  in  such  a 
spirit,  that  it  would  probably  never  be  forgotten. 
The  diffident  and  desponding  would  leave  his  pre- 
sence encouraged  and  cheered ;  the  vain  and  con- 
ceited would  return  to  the  counter  or  the  desk 
humbled  ;  and  yet  each  would  equally  feel  that  he 
had  a  friend  in  his  master,  capable  of  appreciating, 
ready  to  approve  worth  of  the  lowliest  and  most  un- 
obtrusive kind,  but  no  less  -skilled  in  detecting  and 
faithful  to  rebuke  the  smallest  delinquency.  In 
some  instances  he  seemed  to  create, — I  need  hardly 
remark  that  I  use  the  word  in  its  qualified  sense, — 
he  seemed  to  create  the  very  virtue  he  wished  to 


MASTEK  AND  MEN.  279 

promote  by  giving  a  youth  credit  for  it,  and  to  crush 
the  very  vice  he  deplored  by  leading  one  to  suppose 
that  he  thought  him  incapable  of  indulging  it. 
And  all  this,  I  am  most  entirely  persuaded,  was 
done  with  such  simplicity  of  heart  and  such  single- 
ness of  eye,  that  he  might  have  justified  himself  in 
the  spirit  and  the  very  words  of  the  apostle,  '  Being 
crafty  I  caught  you  with  guile.' 

"  I  shall  add  a  few  words  on  another  point,  illus- 
trative of  the  deep  interest  which  Mr.  Buclgett 
cherished  towards  those  he  employed  in  regard  to 
the  comfort  of  their  homes,  the  vigilance  with  which 
he  would  observe  and  read  the  very  countenance  of 
a  man  when  once  he  became  apprehensive  that  he 
was  in  trouble,  and  the  delicacy  and  tact  with  which 
he  would  reach  the  truth  and  apply  the  necessary 
aid.  In  these  particulars  it  is  probable  that  I  knew 
more  of  him  than  any  one  beyond  his  own  family, 
during  the  whole  period  of  my  residence  at  Kings- 
wood.  Many  of  his  frequent,  hasty  visits  to  the 
parsonage  were  on  errands  of  love  of  this  particular 
kind.  I  was  often  his  almoner — with  a  strict  in- 
junction that  no  reference  should  be  made  to  him 
in  the  matter — where  he  wished  to  send  relief  to 
some  unhappy  family,  the  head  of  which  he  had 
been  obliged  to  discard.  He  would  sometimes — 
especially  if  he  thought  he  had  placed  me  in  a  dif- 
ficulty— run  back  to  me  in  the  library  after  he  had 
reached  the  bottom  of  the  stairs,  to  remind  me  that 
the  money  he  had  placed  in  my  hands  'the  last 
time  he  had  seen  me '  teas  my  own,  that  I  was  to 


280  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

do  whatever  /  thought  proper  with  if- ;  in  a  word, 
that  '  Samuel  Budffett  had  no  more  right  or  con- 
trol  over  it  than  Maurice  Britten,  Jack  Rawbones, 
or  old  Bedlio.'  But  the  real  interest  he  felt  in  a 
case  of  which  he  thus  professed  to  have  washed  his 
hands  was  seen  when,  on  the  next  occasion  of  our 
meeting,  he  would  inquire  into  the  minutest  par- 
ticulars of  the  interview.  I  remember  one  case  in 
which  he  had  met  with  the  greatest  annoyance,  and 
in  which  we  had  every  reason  to  believe  there  had 
been  an  attempt  to  injure  the  commercial  credit  of 
the  firm ;  when  I  described  to  him  the  excitement 
of  the  party  on  receiving  his  bounty,  supposing  that 
it  had  come  from  myself,  he  wept  even  to  the  audi- 
ble sob,  and  almost  in  an  agony  expressed  his  wish 
that  he  '  dared  to  make  the  family  happy  by  taking 
the  poor  fellow  into  his  confidence  again.'  Shortly 
after  I  came  to  reside  at  Bedford,  I  received  a  letter 
from  a  person  in  his  employment,  expressing  to  me 
the  difficulties  in  which  he  found  himself  from  cir- 
cumstances which  he  could  not  control,  and  asking 
my  advice.  The  letter  reached  me  when  I  was  on 
a  bed  of  sickness.  I  felt  that  the  most  direct  mode 
of  assisting  him  was  to  communicate  the  facts  t<>  Ins 
master.  I  therefore  simply  enclosed  the  letter  in  an 
envelope  to  'Uncle  Samuel,'  only  expressing  my 
conviction  of  the  respect  he  had  for  the  writer  a*  a 
man  of  real  worth  and  integrity,  and  my  assurance 
that  his  case  was  in  proper  hands  the  moment  it 
reached  the  private  counting-house  in  Nelson-street. 
In  a  few  days  afterwards,  I  received  a  second  letter 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  281 

from  the  party,  telling  me,  in  terms  truly  touching, 
that  Mr.  Budgett  had  called  him  aside,  made  him 
take  a  seat,  and  asked  him  to  tell  him  all  that  was 
in  his  heart.  To  be  brief — the  tale  of  sorrow  had 
been  told,  and  the  sad  heart  had  been  relieved  to 
its  full  content. 

"  On  the  very  last  visit  I  paid  my  dear  relative, 
we  were  in  his  library,  and  our  attention  was  called 
to  a  poor  man  in  whom  I  felt  an  interest,  by  some 
object  of  his  craft  that  caught  the  eye.  '  Poor  fel- 
low !'  said  uncle  Samuel,  '  he  has  been  in  sad 
trouble ;  but,'  with  his  brilliant  smile  he  added, 
'  he  is  out  of  it  all  now  ;  he  is  as  happy  as  a  prince ; 
his  house  is  as  nice  as  a  new  penny,  and  his  face  as 
cheerful  as  a  harvest  moon !'  He  then  told  me 
that  he  had  observed  the  poor  fellow  looking  very 
melancholy,  so  much  so  at  last  that  his  heart  quite 
ached  as  he  passed  him  in  the  yard.  He  sent  for 
him  into  the  counting-house,  and  after  he  had  made 
him  feel  a  little  at  ease,  had  drawn  out  of  him  all  his 
troubles.  The  sickness  of  his  wife  had  entangled 
him  in  debt ;  he  could  not  eat,  he  could  not  sleep ; 
his  life  was  a  misery  to  him,  and  he  had  exclaimed 
with  a  pathos  that  sunk  deep  into  my  dear  relative's 
tender  heart,  '  Master,  I  am  in  debt ;  every  time  I 
go  near  the  river,  something  bids  me  fling  myself 
into  it,  telling  me  there's  water  enough  to  rid  me 
of  all  my  troubles,  and  that  if  I  don 't  I  shall  be 
sent  into  the  prison  there  for  debt !' 

"Deeply  affected,  he  inquired  of  the  poor  man 
the  names  of  his  creditors,  the  amount  of  their  re- 


282  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

spective  claims,  and  the  peculiar  circumstances 
which  had  led  to  the  contraction  of  each  liability. 
Having  ascertained  these  particulars,  and  perfectly 
satisfied  himself  that  the  man  had  not  forgotten  the 
precept  of  the  society  of  which  he  was  a  member, — 
'  Not  to  contract  debt  without  at  least  a  reasonable 
prospect  of  discharging  it,' — he  asked  him  whether 
freedom  from  these  liabilities  would  restore  to  him 
peace  of  mind.  The  question  was  answered  by  a 
sort  of  sickly  smile,  which  seemed  to  indicate  a  per- 
fect despair  of  such  a  consummation.  '  Well,  come,' 
said  the  master,  '  I  don't  think  things  are  quite  so 

bad, ,  as  they  appear  to  be  to  you.     See  here, 

my  poor  fellow,  you  owe  pounds :  it's   a 

very  large  sum  for  a  man  like  you,  to  be  sure ;  and 
if  you  had  run  into  debt  to  anything  like  this 
amount  through  extravagance,  or  even  thoughtless- 
ness, I  should  have  regarded  it  as  an  act  of  dis- 
honesty on  your  part,  and  I  might  have  felt  it  right 
to  discharge  you.  But  you  are  to  be  pitied,  and 
not  to  be  blamed.  Cold  pity  alone  goes  for  no- 
thing, so  let  us  see  how  you  can  be  helped  out  of 
your  troubles.  Now,  do  you  think  your  creditors, 
considering  all  the  circumstances,  would  take  one- 
half  and  be  satisfied?  Here's  Dr.  Edwards — his 
bill  is  the  heaviest ;  if  we  can  get  him  to  take  one- 
half — '  '  One-half,  master !'  exclaimed  the  poor  man, 
1  but  if  they  ivould  take  half,  where  's  the  money 
to  come  from  ?  I  arn't  got  a  shilling  in  the  world 
but  what's  coming  to  me  Friday  night;  and  when 
I  take  my  wages  now,  I  arn't  any  pleasure  in  look- 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  283 

bag  at  the  money,  because  it  arn't  my  own;  it 
should  go  to  pay  my  debts,  and  1  'in  obliged  to  use 
it  to  buy  victuals.  I  think  in  my  heart  I  shall 
ne'er  be  happy  again.'  Still  more  sensibly  affected 
by  the  poor  man's  manner  the  longer  the  interview 
lasted,  my  kind-hearted  relative  begged  him  not  to 
distress  himself  any  more ;  he  said  that  a  friend  of 
his  had  given  him  a  sum  that  was  quite  equal  to 
one-half  of  his  debts,  bade  him  to  return  to  his 
work,  order  a  horse  to  be  put  into  harness  as  he 
passed  through  the  yard,  and  brought  round  in  ten 
minutes ;  and  told  him  to  be  sure  to  make  himself 
as  happy  as  he  could  till  he  saw  him  again.  He 
immediately  drove  round  to  every  creditor  the  poor 
man  had,  compounded  with  them  for  their  respec- 
tive claims,  and  obtained  their  receipts  in  full  dis- 
charge. On  his  return,  the  poor  man's  stare  of  be- 
wilderment was  indescribable.  He  watched  his 
master  unfold  the  receipts  one  by  one  without  utter- 
ing a  syllable,  and  when  they  were  put  into  his 
hand  he  clutched  them  with  a  sort  of  convulsive 
grasp,  but  still  not  a  word  escaped  him.  At  length 
he  exclaimed,  'But,   master,  where 's  the   money 

come  from  ?'     '  Never  do  you  mind  that, ,' 

was  the  reply ;  '  go  home,  and  tell  your  wife  you 
are  out  of  debt,  you  are  an  independent  man.  I 
only  hope  the  creditors  have  felt  something  of  the 
satisfaction  in  forgiving  you  one-half  your  debt  to 
them,  that  we  know  God  feels  in  forgiving  our  debts 
to  him  for  Christ's  sake ;  I  have  said  that  much  to 
all  of  them.'     But  the  puzzling  question  had  not 


284  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MEECHANT. 

yet  been  answered,  and  again  it  was  put, — '  But, 
master,  where 's  the  money  come  from  ?'  '  Well, 
well ;  I  told  you  a  friend  had  given  it  to  me  for 
you.  You  know  that  Friend  as  well  as  I  do  ; — 
there  now,  you  may  leave  your  work  for  to-day ; 
go  home  to  your  wife,  and  thank  that  Friend  to- 
gether for  making  you  an  independent  man.     But 

stay, ,  I  had  almost  forgotten  one  thing.     I 

called   to   see   Mr.  P as   I   drove  through 

Stoke's  Croft ;  I  told  him  the  errand  that  carried 
me  away  from  home  all  day,  and  he  gave  me  a 
sovereign  for  you  to  begin  the  world  with.'  The 
poor  fellow  was  too  much  affected  to  say  anything 
more.  The  next  morning,  however,  he  appeared 
again  ;  but  after  a  most  complete  failure  in  a  valor- 
ous attempt  he  made  to  express,  his  thanks,  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  counting-house,  stammering  out 
that  '  both  he  and  his  wife  felt  their  hearts  to  be  as 
light  as  a  feather.'  '  What  a  luxury  there  is  in  try- 
ing to  make  a  man  happy !'  said  Mr.  Budgett, 
when  he  had  finished  his  story ;  and  I  am  sure  he 
found  it  so  at  all  times.  It  must  be  remarked,  also, 
that  an  act  like  this  was  not,  with  him,  one  of  mere 
munificence — a  gift  out  of  abundance  which  would 
never  be  missed  ;  it  was  one  of  pure  benevolence — it 
was  cordial,  it  reached  every  sensibility  of  his  heart, 
and  he  would  spare  neither  trouble  nor  fatigue  till 
he  had  accomplished  his  object.  One  other  remark, 
and  I  have  done.  An  incident  of  this  kind  was 
never  related  by  my  relative  from  any  feeling  of 
vanity ;  he  knew  that  the  relation  of  it  would  gra- 


MASTER  AND  MEN.  285 

tify  me  or  a  few  friends  to  whom  lie  might  mention 
it  in  the  confidence  of  social  intercourse,  and  his  own 
heart  seemed  to  revel  in  the  renewed  pleasure  it 
gave  him  to  picture  to  himself  afresh  the  joy  which 
had  been  occasioned  to  a  fellow-creature  whom  he 
had  thus  been  permitted  to  assist.  He  would  fer- 
vently bless  God  who  had  given  him  the  ability  '  to 
do  good  unto  all  men,  but  especially  to  them  who 
are  of  the  household  of  faith  :'  and  truly,  he  loved 
'  to  bear  another's  burdens,'  to  '  mind  not '  merely 
'  his  own  things,  but  also  the  things  of  another.'  " 


286  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 


CHAPTER    VII. 
IN     HIS     OWN     NEIGHBOURHOOD. 

"  Wouldst  thou  be  rich,  give  unto  the  poor,  thou  shalt  have 

thine  own  with  usury : 
For  the  secret  hand  of  Providence  prospereth  the  charitable 

all  ways ; 
Good  luck  shall  he  have  in  his  pursuits,  and  his  heart  shall  be 

glad  within  him : 
Yet  perchance  he  never  shall  perceive,  that  even  as  to  earthly 

gains, 
The  cause  of  his  weal,  as  of  his  joy,  hath  been  small  givings  to 

the  poor."  Tupper. 

Until  an  incredibly  recent  date,  the  neighbourhood 
of  Kingswood  was  uncivilized  and  lawless.  When 
Mr.  Budgett  first  came  there  his  brother  had  begun 
to  war  against  its  barbarism.  The  place  is  singular : 
it  does  not  form  a  town,  nor  yet  a  group  of  villages ; 
but  over  an  extended  surface  of  undulating  and 
naturally  beautiful  ground  you  have  an  endless 
labyrinth  of  lanes — turning,  winding,  intersecting, 
branching  in  all  directions  ;  so  that  if  a  stranger  set 
out  to  walk  three  miles,  he  would  probably  spend 
a  day  in  the  journey  without  a  guide.  By  the 
sides  of  these  lanes  lie  the  cottages,  some  of  which 
are  comfortable,  but  the  greater  part,  and  especially 
the  older  ones,  very  wretched.  About  a  mile  from 
Mr.  Budgett's  house  lies  a  place  called  Cock  Road, 
in  commemoration  of  its  game  cocks.     This  was  a 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        287 

den  of  robbers  who  lived  only  by  plunder, — sallying 
out  to  Bristol,  Bath,  Gloucester,  Hereford,  and  even 
as  far  as  Manchester.  Hundreds  of  persons  are 
living  who  remember  when  it  was  unsafe  to  pass 
alone  in  the  open  day.  One  told  me  that  he  had 
seen  farmers  come  with  constables  on  search  for  lost 
property,  and  their  own  pigs  were  displayed  dead 
before  their  eyes,  while  the  robbers  laughed  in  their 
face ;  but  they  durst  not  touch  them,  and  could  not 
identify  the  pigs,  as  they  were  skinned.  William 
Lintern,  an  old  inhabitant  of  the  place,  and  a  fel- 
low-labourer of  Mr.  Budgett's,  says  that  one  of  his 
earliest  recollections  is  of  paying  a  penny  to  see  two 
brothers,  who  had  been  hung,  lying  in  their  coffin ; 
for  the  bodies  had  been  given  up  to  their  relations, 
and  they  turned  them  to  account  by  making  them 
a  show  !  In  this  family  were,  I  think,  five  sons  and 
one  daughter;  two  sons  were  hanged,  three  trans- 
ported, and  the  daughter  had  three  successive  hus- 
bands, who  were  all  transported  too. 

Mr.  H.  H.  Budgett,  with  great  public  spirit, 
addressed  himself  to  the  dangerous  task  of  subdu- 
ing this  tribe  of  marauders.  For  a  time  he  struggled 
alone,  but  he  eventually  obtained  co-operation,  and 
the  ringleaders  were  punished,  the  rest  kept  in  check. 
A  Bristol  paper,  speaking  of  Mr.  Samuel  Budgett's 
death,  says : — 

"  Not  many  years  since,  Kingswood  was  known 

.as  the  haunt  of  some  of  the  most  depraved  and 

desperate  race  of  men  living,  often  becoming  a  pest 

and  annoyance  to  this  city.     At  that  time  the  elder 


288  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

brother  of  the  firm  commenced  business  there,  lie 
for  many  years  stood  alone,  though  constantly  har- 
assed by  the  fear,  as  well  as  on  one  or  two  occasions 
actually  exposed  to  the  attack,  of  these  lawless 
ruffians.  His  endeavours  to  produce  a  change  were 
seconded  by  a  few  liberal  and  judicious  individuals 
of  the  city  and  neighbourhood,  so  that  the  most 
notorious  offenders  were  either  detected  or  driven 
out  of  their  hiding  places.  It  was  not  possible, 
however,  to  eradicate  the  rude  and  vicious  elements 
which  hovered  round  this  district.  But  since  the 
erection  of  the  church,  the-  building  of  two  or  three 
places  of  worship,  the  opening  of  several  schools  by 
various  denominations,  (in  most  of  which  the  late 
firm  took  a  liberal  and  active  part,)  many  of  those 
evils  have  been  subdued,  and  much  good  has  been 
accomplished.  By  a  benevolence  thus  unsectarian 
in  feeling,  though  in  matters  of  opinion  joining  in 
preference  to  the  old  Wesleyan  body,  his  good  name 
■  and  deeds  will  long  be  fragrant  in  the  memory  of 
this  locality." 

The  Cock-Roadites,  as  they  were  called,  were  a 
universal  terror ;  and  a  book,  detailing  the  opera- 
tions of  "The  Bristol  Methodist  Sunday-School 
Society,"  which  William  Lintern  kindly  lent  me, 
shows  that  it  was  considered  a  feat  when  a  school 
was  formed  in  their  vicinity  and  filled  with  their 
children.  That  good  work  was  begun  by  Mr. 
Henry  Budgett ;  and  co-operation  in  it  was  one  of  t 
the  first  efforts  of  his  brother  for  the  good  of  the 
neighbourhood.     The  school  was  opened  in  July, 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        289 

1812,  when  he  was  about  eighteen;  and  the  first 
day,  to  their  surprise,  seventy-five  children  came,  of 
whom  fifty-eight  did  not  know  the  alphabet.  The 
entry  in  the  book  of  the  committee  is  curious : — 
"  Many  of  these,  children  of  the  first-rate  characters 
in  the  singularly  notorious  tribe  of  Cock-Roadites, 
some  of  whose  fathers  are  now  in  prison — many  of 
these  poor  children,  with  their  parents,  are  entirely 
dependent  on  a  system  of  robbery  and  plunder  for 
their  support."  The  school  throve ;  a  school-house 
must  be  built ;  and  in  calling  for  subscriptions, 
the  committee  give  the  following  character  of  the 
place : — 

"  Cock  Road,  a  place  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  Bristol,  has  been  from  time  immemorial,  and  still 
is,  inhabited  by  persons,  the  majority  of  whom  are 
notorious  for  robbery,  -plunder,  and  all  kinds  of 
illicit  practices ;  daring  and  systematic  in  their 
proceedings  beyond  description,  they  trample  with 
impunity  upon  all  laws,  human  and  divine,  set  at 
defiance  every  principle  of  justice,  make  themselves 
a  terror  to  the  surrounding  neighbourhood ;  and 
this  within  four  miles  of  the  second  city  in  the  em- 
pire" 

Labouring  among  these  children  of  robbers,  Mr. 
Budgett  spent  the  Sundays  of  his  riper  youth.  I 
was  at  that  school  the  first  Sunday  after  his  funeral, 
and  heard  much  of  his  toils  and  zeal.  "  A  gra- 
cious man !"  said  his  old  coadjutor,  already  named, 
"  a  gracious  man !  0,  how  he  would  labour  !  All 
that  he  did  will  never  be  told."     His  duty  in  those 

19 


290  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MEKCHANT. 

early  days  was  to  visit  the  absentees,  and  bring 
them,  if  practicable,  to  school.  To  get  over  the 
greatest  possible  amount  of  ground,  he  would  bring 
a  pony  and  clash  about  from  cottage  to  cottage 
among  the  lanes ;  he  would  talk  to  the  people, 
kneel  down  and  pray  with  them,  stir  them  up  to 
send  then-  children  to  school,  and  then  away.  Thus, 
often,  he  would  pass  a  Sunday  without  dinner ; 
sometimes,  perhaps,  getting  a  morsel  of  bacon  or  a 
potato  in  a  cottage  where  he  called.  "And  he 
often  told  me  these  were  the  happiest  days  of  his 
life,  the  Sundays  he  spent  that  way." 

Some  delight  to  tell  us  of  the  power  of  nature  to 
mould  and  ennoble  man ;  but  where  could  you  find 
— whether  on  the  Himalayas,  in  the  isles  of  Poly- 
nesia, among  the  forests  of  North  America,  the  snow 
fields  of  Greenland,  the  plains  of  Australia,  or  any 
other  scene  whereon  nature  displays  herself  in  beauty 
or  in  grandeur — a  single  tribe  which  has  been  left 
to  her  sole  teaching  that  has  received  an  education 
worth  anything,  either  for  this  life  or  a  life  to  come. 
"  The  children  of  nature"  have  been  much  glorified ; 
but  her  children  all  the  world  over  are  a  very  ill- 
conditioned  and  ill-behaved  race,  the  most  pitiable 
beings  the  world  upholds.  If  they  were  all  assembled 
— Esquimaux  and  Bedouin,  Bushman  and  Dyak, 
New-Guineaman  and  Choctaw,  Veddah  and  Fee- 
jeean — it  is  likely  that  on  surveying  them  you 
would  be  of  opinion  that  nature  had  made  amaz- 
ingly poor  progress  in  the  instruction  of  her  own 
peculiar  family.     Nature  is  a  sage  and  inexhaustible 


IN   HIS   OWN   NEIGHBOURHOOD.        291 

book  for  him  whom  revelation  has  taught  to  read ; 
a  clear,  sonorous,  and  multiplying  echo  where  reve- 
lation lifts  up  her  voice :  but  without  a  teacher,  the 
book  cannot  explain  one  of  its  own  letters ;  without 
a  voice,  the  echo  is  mute. 

In  Cock  Road,  nature  had  a  fair  aspect  and  a  long  op- 
portunity. She  was  left  undisturbed  for  generations  to 
teach  with  her  stars,  and  trees,  and  nightingales,  her 
flowers  and  her  storms.  A  poet,  looking  on  those  wind- 
ing lanes,  would  have  sung  about  guileless  hearts  and 
innocent  homes  ;  while  those  lanes  Avere  the  hiding- 
place  of  thieves  and  murderers.  More  teaching  took 
place  in  that  Sunday  school  in  the  first  year,  more 
which  tended  to  fit  those  children  for  useful  lives 
here  and  glorious  lives  hereafter,  than  had  taken 
place  through  all  the  beauties  of  nature  from  the 
time  the  Cock-Roadites  became  a  tribe.  .  The 
school  prospered,  and  the  people  improved.  The 
two  brothers  and  their  fellow-labourers  had  reason 
to  rejoice. 

In  the  biography  of  William  Allen,  (both  in  the 
original  life  and  the  shorter  and  more  serviceable 
one  lately  published  by  the  Rev.  James  Sherman,) 
an  allusion  will  be  found  to  this  school,  which  he 
visited  while  staying  at  Clifton,  calling  at  the  house 
of  Mr.  H.  H.  Budgett.  He  bears  testimony  to  the 
needy  condition  of  the  place,  and  to  the  zeal  be- 
stowed upon  it.  The  labours  which  Mr.  Budgett 
commenced  thus  early,  he  prosecuted  with  diligence 
throughout  life,  not  confining  himself  to  Cock  Road, 
but  lending  hearty  aid  to  many  neighbouring  schools. 


292  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MEKCHAJSTT. 

His  power  over  the  children  was  great ;  he  was  ever 
on  the  watch  for  some  anecdote  or  illustration  that 
would  help  him  to  catch  their  attention ;  his  ad- 
dresses were  both  familiar  and  authoritative;  he 
would  with  amazing  promptitude  obtain  silence  till 
the  tick  of  the  clock  was  heard  by  all ;  and  he  had 
a  peculiar  delight  in  giving  the  children  a  treat  and 
seeing  them  all  happy. 

To  the  good  work  wherein  his  soul  delighted,  he 
early  trained  his  sons  and  only  daughter,  as  also 
the  pious  and  intelligent  of  those  ha  his  employ- 
ment; so  that  every  Lord's  day  a  numerous  band 
of  labourers  went  out  frorn  his  own  house  and  those 
of  his  dependents.  An  honoured  friend  of  my  own 
has  given  the  following  beautiful  sketch,  referring 
when  he  wrote  it  chiefly  to  a  member  of  the  family, 
now  in  a  better  country.  It  was  Whitsuntide  in 
the  year  1849,  and  my  friend  was  visiting  at  Kings- 
wood  Hill : — 

"  The  enjoyments  of  the  week  were  entered  upon 
with  great  zest.  The  beautiful  valley  of  the  Avon 
and  the  undulating  hills  around  Kingswood  and 
Hanham  which  bordered  upon  it,  were  clothed  in 
that  soft,  rich  green  which  throughout  this  part  of 
the  west  is  so  attractive  and  refreshing  a  feature ; 
the  hedge-rows  in  all  the  lanes  were  dusted  over 
with  the  blooms  of  wild  flowers;  the  new-mown 
hay  was  yielding  its  perfume;  and  all  our  best 
singing  birds  in  the  plantations  were  in  full  tune. 
No  trifles,  any  of  these,  to  a  grateful  and  suscepti- 
ble nature ;  but  the  chief  charm  of  the  scene  to  a 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGIIBOUBHOOD.        293 

Christian,  an  English  heart,  in  this  general  holiday, 
was  the  excitement  connected  with  the  Sunday- 
school  festal  anniversaries.  The  boys  and  girls 
clothed  in  their  best  attire  were  skipping  along  the 
roads  and  byepaths,  greeting  their  teachers,  and 
hasting  to  join  a  procession  which  must  first  move 
to  the  house  of  God  and  then  back  again  to  some 
place  of  innocent  recreation.  The  grounds  at  Kings- 
wood  Hill  were  opened  on  one  of  these  days  for  the 
recreation  of  the  members  of  the  Wesleyan  Sunday 
school.  The  day  was  fine,  and  the  enjoyment  un- 
alloyed:  Edwin  did  all  he  could  to  enhance  that 
enjoyment.  The  hilarity  of  the  children  called 
forth  his  own.  There  were  moments  when  he  was 
playful  as  the  young  fawn  which  ever  and  anon  was 
throwing  up  her  heels  in  the  face  of  the  different 
groups  as  she  bounded  by  upon  the  grass." 

One  of  the  last  services  Mr.  Budgett  rendered  to 
Kingswood  was  to  build  a  noble  room  for  a  day 
school,  at  the  cost  of  some  eight  hundred  pounds ; 
which  has  been  placed  under  the  Wesleyan  Educa- 
tion Committee,  and  will  doubtless  long  serve  as  a 
beautiful  monument  to  its  founder,  as  a  source  of 
light  to  the  children  of  the  vicinity. 

He  had  early  feic  a  strong  desire  to  preach  to  the 
heathen,  and  about  the  period  of  his  marriage  he 
began*  to  labour  as  a  local  preacher.  One  who  had 
lived  in  the  vicinity  all  his  life,  and  who  insisted 
"  You  cannot  say  too  mnch  of  that  good  man,  sir ; 
you  cannot  say  too  much  of  that  good  man,"  told 
me  that  he  heard  him  preach  his  "  trial  sermon  "  as 


294  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

a  local  preacher,  and  was  so  impressed  with  his 
power,  that  he  told  him  he  thought  he  ought  to 
have  heen  in  the  ministry  ;  on  which  he  informed 
him  of  his  early  leanings,  and  the  causes  which 
had  fixed  his  lot  in  trade.  In  the  later  years  of 
life  he  was  often  so  deeply  affected  with  a  convic- 
tion of  unworthiness,  that  when  appointed  to  preach 
in  some  of  the  neighbouring  places,  he  could  not 
venture  on  the  holy  service,  but  would  procure  a 
substitute — often  one  in  his  own  employment. 

Thus  in  early  life,  before  he  was  able  to  be  of 
much  temporal  service  to  his  neighbours,  he  did 
what  in  him  lay  for  their  spiritual  welfare  ;  but  as 
his  property  increased  he  did  not  couple  apparent 
zeal  for  men's  souls  with  indifference  to  the  wants 
of  their  bodies.  He  was  a  large  and  hearty  giver ; 
but  he  strongly  desired  to  make  his  gifts  strengthen 
rather  than  enfeeble  the  self-helping  energy  of 
others.  On  this  account  he  preferred  employment 
whenever  he  could  invent  it ;  and  the  house,  the 
farm,  the  grounds,  the  premises,  were  all  laid  under 
tax  for  this  end. 

Mr.  Carvosso,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  his 
efforts  in  this  line,  shall  give  an  idea  of  the  scale 
they  sometimes  assumed: — "He  was  surrounded 
by  the  poor,  and  every  way  disposed  to  do  them 
good.  Discrimination  he  certainly  had ;  he*kriew 
what  was  in  them,  and  was  not  to  be  readily  im- 
posed on.  That  he  might  not  maintain  them  in 
idleness,  during  the  scarcity  of  bread  in  1846  and 
1847,  he  spent  thousands  merely  to  employ  them, 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        295 

engaging  some  one  hundred  and  fifty  extra  hands 
for  small  wages,  and  on  Saturdays  adding  scores  of 
pounds  to  the  earnings  of  those  who  had  families, 
that  they  might  have  enough  to  meet  domestic 
wants.  In  meeting  the  wants  of  his  poor  neigh- 
bours by  preparation  of  soup,  he  was  foremost,  both 
in  his  own  gifts  and  in  soliciting  from  the  rich ;  and 
in  this  way  he  was  mighty,  almost  resistless,  so  that 
the  poor  were  double  debtors  to  him." 

Pursuant  to  his  desire  to  help  men  to  earn,  he 
often  made  the  substantial  present  of  a  horse ;  and 
in  the  case  of  a  respectable  widow,  he  offered  either 
twenty  pounds  or  five  pounds  and  a  horse.  When 
he  suspected  that  a  man,  instead  of  employing  the 
horse  to  maintain  the  family,  would  sell  the  horse 
and  waste  the  money,  he  would  bind  him  by  a 
promise  to  pay, — never  intending,  however,  to  call 
for  payment  unless  his  generosity  was  abused.  In 
one  case,  a  man  to  whom  he  gave  a  horse  under 
promise  of  paying  eleven  pounds,  was  reported  to 
him  two  days  after  as  carousing  at  a  public-house 
with  money  obtained  by  selling  the  horse.  He  at 
once  had  him  looked  after ;  he  had  sold  the  horse 
for  thirteen  pounds,  and  had  already  spent  about 
two  in  his  frolic;  the  remaining  eleven  were,  of 
course,  taken  back. 

A  young  man,  the  brother  of  one  of  his  servants, 
had  fallen  ill  in  London  while  working  as  a  tinman. 
After  suffering  long  in  the  hospitals,  he  came  into 
the  country ;  but  ill  and  feeble,  he  could  not  return 
to  work  in  town.     Mr.  Budgett  gave  him  fifteen 


296         .THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

pounds  to  set  up  in  a  neighbouring  village.  Part 
of  the  same  family  were  going  to  America ;  he 
gave  them  thirty  pounds ;  and  to  make  it  sit  lightly, 
told  them  to  buy  land  with  it  for  him,  and  write 
him  word  how  it  got  on ;  perhaps  he  would  come 
and  look  after  it  some  day.  One  day,  in  driving 
along  the  road  he  took  up  a  man,  and  soon  found 
out  all  about  him,  which  was  usually  the  case ;  for 
somehow  he  led  people  to  disclose  themselves  till 
they  were  almost  as  open  with  him  as  he  was  wont 
to  be  with  his  own  friends.  This  man  proved  to  be 
on  the  point  of  emigrating,  but  with  scanty  means. 
After  being  satisfied  as  to  the  truth  of  his  state- 
ment, he  gave  him  fifty  pounds,  but,  I  believe, 
coupled  with  some  conditions  of  repayment  if  con- 
venient. 

A  man,  with  whom  he  often  dealt  for  horses,  had 
been  robbed  at  a  fair.  In  his  despair,  he  made  an 
attempt  upon  his  life.  Mr.  Budgett,  hearing  that 
he  was  lying  dreadfully  wounded,  hastened  to  see 
him,  warned  him,  encouraged  him,  and  prayed  with 
him.  The  poor  fellow  was  in  utter  despair,  both  as 
to  his  soul  and  as  to  this  life.  Mr.  Budgett  assured 
him  that  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  go  to  business 
a^ain  he  should  have  enough  to  set  him  on  his 
feet.  He  recovered  :  and  when  asked  how  much 
would  be  necessary,  said — Eighty  pounds;  but  he 
would  wish  to  pay  it  back  if  ever  he  was  able. 
On  these  terms  the  eighty  pounds  were  at  once 
given. 

Besides   endless  detached  instances  of  benevo- 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        297 

lence  such  as  these,  he  zealously  promoted  the  visit- 
ing and  relief  of  the  poor  by  a  regular  organization 
after  the  model  of  the  Stranger's  Friend  Society 
— the  oldest  of  our  visiting  charities  and  the  best. 
In  this  he  laboured  heartily,  giving  influence,  time, 
and  gold.  His  own  leisure  for  visiting  was  not 
such  as  to  satisfy  him ;  therefore  a  paid  visitor  was 
employed.  And  one  of  his  neighbours,  who  la- 
boured in  this  good  work,  told  me  that  he  would 
now  and  then  ask  him  how  they  were  getting  on  in 
his  district,  and  put  two  or  three  sovereigns  into  his 
hand,  whether  he  would  or  not,  to  be  given  away. 
"  Besides,"  he  said,  "  I  never  came  to  him  yet  with 
a  case  of  distress  that  he  refused;  and  what  was 
strange,  he  would  never  say,  'I  will  give  you  so- 
and-so,'  but  would  ask,  '  Well,  how  much  do  you 
think  I  should  give  V  And  whatever  I  said — five 
shillings,  ten,  or  fifteen,  it  was  all  the  same, — he 
gave  it  at  once." 

This  statement  struck  me  as  precisely  coinciding 
with  one  which  had  been  previously  made  by  his 
old  neighbour  and  intimate  friend,  the  Rev.  John 
Glanville.  He  remarked  that  in  all  the  applications 
he  had  made  to  Mr.  Budgett,  he  never  once  knew 
him  to  say,  what  we  so  commonly  hear  said  by 
those  who  remember  their  own  charitable  acts  so 
well,  "  I  have  had  so  many  calls  lately."  JVo,  not 
once  in  all  those  years  had  he  heard  those  words 
out  of  his  lips  ;  but  whenever  he  went,  found,  just 
as  my  other  friend  had  found,  that  when  he  men- 
tioned the  case  he  was  asked,  "  Well,  how  much 


298  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

do  you  think  I  ought  to  give  ?"  And  whether  he 
said  ten  pounds,  fifteen,  or  twenty,  that  sum  was 
forthcoming. 

Mr.  Carvosso  says, — "  In  the  course  of  my  minis- 
try, I  have  only  met  with  two  rich  men  who  re- 
membered the  poor  through  their  ministers.  One 
was  the  late  venerable  William  Carne,  of  Penzance  ; 
the  other,  Mr.  Budgett.  Mr.  Carne  woidd  occa- 
sionally put  a  sovereign  into  my  hand  in  reference 
to  wants  the  sight  of  which  a  minister  cannot  well 
shun.  Samuel  Budgett  went  further ;  now  and 
then  he  would  drop  into  my  hand  a  five-pound 
note,  intimating  that  I  must  permit  him  to  bear 
some  part  of  the  expense  entailed  on  me  by  visit- 
ing the  poor  and  distressed." 

One  does  meet  with  but  few  who  thus  help  one 
to  enjoy  visiting  the  wretched ;  for  when  you  see 
staring  want  in  some  of  the  sad  corners  of  this  huge 
London,  it  is  cheerless  to  produce  the  one  lean  shil- 
ling which  alone  your  own  purse  can  furnish.  But 
a  few  have  given  me  the  luxury  of  seeing  dull  eyes 
lighten  up  with  gratitude  to  God,  and  to  an  wnhnown 
friend.  There  is  something  touching  in  putting  a 
half-sovereign  into  the  hand  of  a  poor  woman  who 
needs  it,  is  worthy  of  it,  but  had  no  hope,  and  sav- 
ing at  the  same  time,  so  as  to  remove  all  sense  of 
uncomfortable  obligation,  "It  is  not  from  me, — a 
friend  has  given  me  something  to  dispose  of."  I 
never  went  to  a  Christmas  dinner  with  such  plea- 
sure as  last  year,  (1850.)  After  a  number  of  visits, 
at  each  of  which  I  deposited,  in  a  poor  but  worthy 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        299 

hand  enough,  from  the  purse  of  a  friend,  to  make 
the  Christmas  plentiful,  one  bright  coin  remained, 
and  the  Christmas  morn  had  come.  It  was  not 
comfortable  to  go  to  dine  with  that  in  one's  pocket, 
yet  better  to  keep  it  for  a  day  or  two  than  give  it 
away  at  hazard.  Just  after  morning  service,  a  name 
is  mentioned ;  and  I  see,  even  now,  the  poor  Avoman 
lying  on  that  small  bed  in  that  close  back  room, 
with  her  feeble  fire  and  her  empty  pot.  She  was 
a  widow,  she  had  children,  and  long,  long  had  she 
been  lying  there;  worthy,  godly,  with  a  trusting 
heart  and  a  joyful  hope  of  glory,  she  had  lived 
through  her  illness  she  scarce  knew  how.  God,  by 
the  hand  of  his  children,  had  fed  her.  That  day 
the  barrel  of  meal  and  the  cruse  of  oil  seemed  to 
have  failed;  her  stores  were  all  void.  Had  the 
friend  whose  money  I  had  put  into  her  hand  seen 
her  look  and  heard  her  blessing,  he  would  have 
gone  to  his  Christmas  dinner  with  as  light  a  heart 
as  I.  Rich  men!  why,  if  you  will  not  visit  and 
relieve  the  poor  yourselves,  should  you  not  employ 
those  who  would  ? 

From  what  has  been  said  of  Mr.  Glanville,  it  will 
be  seen  that  Mr.  Budgett  did  not  confine  his  chari- 
ties throiiffh  ministers  to  those  of  his  own  denomi- 
nation.  On  the  day  of  his  funeral,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
West,  the  Moravian  minister  at  Kingswood,  told 
me  that  before  coming  out  he  had  observed  his  ser- 
vant in  tears,  and  asked  her  what  was  the  matter. 
"  O !"  she  said,  "  they  are  going  to  bury  Mr.  Bud- 
gett :  he  was  a  good  friend  to  my  poor  father  and 


300  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

mother ;  he  would  now  and  then  give  them  a  sove- 
reign to  get  things  to  sell  for  their  living." 

With  some  men  money  is  cheap ;  with  some, 
labour.  You  will  find  one  ready  to  give ;  but  he 
cannot  visit,  cannot  teach,  cannot  go  personally  on 
any  errand  of  goodness.  Another  man  will  work, 
but  is  slow  to  give.  Each  of  these  is  a  benevolent 
man  with  one  leg:  Mr.  Budgett  had  both  legs. 
Before  he  had  much  to  give  he  had  begun  to  work ; 
after  he  had  much  to  give,  he  persevered  in  working. 

One  Sunday  evening  he  was  preaching  at  a 
neighbouring  village.  As  he  came  home,  he  saw 
a  number  of  youths  lolling  about  under  the  hedges 
in  a  lane — wild,  rough,  ignorant,  idle,  ill-mannered, 
with  bad  looks,  bad  habits,  and  every  stamp  of  the 
accomplished  good-for-nothing.  His  heart  yearned 
for  them;  he  thought  how  they  had  been  passing 
that  lovely  summer  Sabbath.  He  went  up  to  them, 
and  in  his  own  neighbourly  way  began  to  converse. 
He  told  them  he  was  happy,  and  he  should  like  to 
see  them  happy.  "  You  have  minds,  and  I  should 
like  to  see  you  improve  your  minds ;  you  ought  to 
have  something  to  think  about,  and  to  employ  you 
usefully."  So  on  he  chatted  till  he  had  obtained 
some  little  hold  of  their  attention.  "  Now,"  he 
said,  "  if  I  gave  you  a  good  tea,  would  you  like  to 
come  and  take  it?"  "O  yes!  O  yes!"  was  the 
cheerful  answer.  "Then  come  up  to  the  vestry 
of  Kingswood  chapel  to-morrow  evening;  we  are 
going  to  have  a  little  meeting,  and  you  shall  have 
a  good  tea."     This  was  a  tea-meeting  of  the  tract 


IN   HIS  OWN   NEIGHBOURHOOD.        301 

distributors.  He  paid  for  tickets  for  his  new 
friends,  who  did  not  fail  to  be  there ;  and  after  they 
had  done  their  endeavour  upon  the  eatables,  he 
came  up  to  them  and  said,  "  Well,  have  you  had  a 
*  good  tea  ?" 

"  'Ees,  thank  'ee." 

"I  suppose  you  know  many  young  men,  just  of 
your  own  kind,  who  go  about  the  lanes  on  a  Sun- 
day night  like  you  ?" 

"  O  'ees !" 

"Do  you  think  if  I  promised  them  a  good  tea 
they  would  come  ?"  He  was  encouraged  to  hope 
for  then-  company  on  such  terms;  and  soon  his 
brother  class-leaders  had  a  hundred  tickets  in  their 
hands  to  be  given  to  the  worst  young  men  in  the 
neighbourhood,  with  the  promise  of  a  bountiful 
treat  if  they  came  to  the  great  room  on  Mr.  Bud- 
gett's  premises,  which  served  for  a  chapel  and  all 
good  purposes.  The  tickets  were  taken  rather 
shyly,  for  they  knew  well  enough  that  Mr.  Budgett 
was  not  gathering  them  without  some  religious  end, 
— so  they  said  they  did  not  want  to  go  to  Budgett 
to  be  hooked  in  for  a  prayer-meeting,  or  something 
of  that  sort.  However,  the  "  good  tea "  went  far. 
At  last  a  compromise  suggested  itself  to  the  youths ; 
they  would  go,  take  the  tea,  and  then  "  bolt "  be- 
fore there  was  any  chance  of  troubling  them  about 
religion.  This  stratagem,  however,  was  met  by  a 
stratagem  on  the  other  side.  The  room  was  crowd- 
ed ;  above  a  hundred  came,  and  such  a  set  of  guests 
has  seldom  met  under  a  decent  roof — all  shades  of 


302  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

vice  and  recklessness  were  gathered  there  to  feast 
and  run  away  from  good  advice.  It  was  plain 
that  the  ringleaders  were  in  one  corner,  for  thence 
proceeded  all  manner  of  odd  and  boisterous  rogue- 
ries. To  this  point  one  of  "  the  young  gentlemen  " 
betook  himself,  sat  down  beside  the  chief,  made  one 
of  the  party,  and  talked  as  familiarly  as  if  he  were 
quite  on  their  side.  The  hero  he  selected  had 
travelled  and  sailed  as  a  stoker,  and  therefore  was 
a  notability  among  his  associates.  Neither  the  hos- 
pitality nor  the  cordial  feeling  had  any  effect  upon 
his  coarse  and  headstrong  badness.  He  tried  in 
all  ways  to  disconcert  his  unexpected  comrade,  and 
would  not  by  any  means  tell  him  his  name.  After 
vain  attempts  to  tame  him  into  sensible  conversa- 
tion, his  young  host  said,  "  I  hope  we  shah  spend  a 
pleasant  evening, — what  do  you  think  we  ought  to 
do  by  way  of  enjoying  ourselves  ?" 

"  You  had  better  get  up  and  make  us  a  bit  of  a 
divarshin." 

Just  then  the  repast  was  coming  to  a  close,  and 
the  preconcerted  move  began  to  be  made ;  but  be- 
fore they  had  got  out  of  the  way,  Mr.  Budgett  ran 
up  into  the  desk,  and  said :  "  I  have  asked  you  to 
come  here  for  the  purpose  of  doing  something  for 
you — sometbing  that  will  be  of  use  to  you.  Now, 
just  as  a  start,  I  will  give  you,  among  you,  fifty 
pounds,  and  you  must  make  up  your  minds  what 
you  will  do  with  it." 

The  wild  rogues  were  thunderstruck ;  they  meant 
to  run  away  from  a  prayer-meeting,  but  it  was  quite 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        303 

another  thing  to  run  away  from  fifty  pounds.     Hats 
that  had  been  taken  up  were  replaced,  and  feet  al- 
ready at  the  door  turned  back.     No  sooner  had 
the  offer  been   made  than  one  of  Mr.  Budffett's 
.  sons,  making   himself  as  one  of  the  party,  said : 
"  Fifty  pounds !  that's  something ;  why,  there  are 
about  a  hundred  of  us,  and  suppose  we  divide  it 
amongst  us,  there  will  be  half  a  sovereign  apiece." 
This  proposition  would  probably  have  been   very 
acceptable  to  the  company ;  but  another,  who  was 
in  the  secret,  at  once  rose  and  objected,  saying  he 
thought  it  would  be  very  foolish  to  throw  away  such 
a  sum  as  fifty  pounds  in  that  way ;  they  had  better 
put  it  to  some  use  that  would  do  them  good  for  a 
long  time  to  come.     This  was  adroitly  argued,  un- 
til all  seemed  to  come  into  that  idea;  then  came 
a  proposition  to  found  a  society  for  study  and  mental 
improvement,  to  be  called  the  "Kingswood  Young- 
Men's  Association."     After  due  discussion,  this  was 
carried  by  vote,  and  Mr.    Budgett  was   appointed 
treasurer.     The  youths  had  been  insensibly  led  by 
the  tact  wherewith  the  affair  was  managed  to  take 
an  interest  in  it ;  and  when  the  final  arrangements 
were  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  committee,  several 
of  them,  to  their  great  exaltation,  were  placed  upon 
the  committee  with  the  friends  who  had  so  cleverly 
conducted  the  first  meeting.     It  was  arranged  that 
the  weekly  rendezvous  should  be  the  vestry  of  the 
chapel  on  Sunday  evenings  after  the  service.     This 
seemed  to  the  young  men  a  very  natural  gathering 
place ;  but  it  was  just  the  point  which  secured  Mr. 


304  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

Budge tt's  object  of  withdrawing  them  from  their 
demoralizing  rambles  on  Sunday  evening,  and  get- 
ting them  to  the  house  of  God. 

So  far  the  success  had  been  perfect ;  but  now  it 
remained  to  be  seen  how  many  would  meet  at  the 
chapel.  About  sixty  came ;  these  were  regularly 
met  on  Sunday  night,  after  the  public  service,  for 
religious  instruction,  and  in  the  week  for  secular 
instruction.  A  good  library  was  bought  with  the 
original  donation,  occasional  lectures  on  scientific 
subjects  were  delivered  by  some  of  the  masters  of 
Kingswood  school,  and  year  by  year  a  tea-meeting 
was  given,  at  which  rewards  of  very  substantial 
books  were  distributed. 

The  success  of  this  case  was  highly  encouraging ; 
but  Mr.  Budgett  saw  that  to  make  it  decisive  a 
similar  association  must  be  instituted  for  young  wo- 
men, because  the  habit  of  Sunday  evening  strolling 
prevailed  equally  among  the  young  people  of  both 
sexes,  to  the  moral  damage  of  both.  By  similar 
means  this  also  was  affected ;  and  thus  a  large 
number  of  youths  and  young  women  were  weekly 
gathered  in  the  house  of  God,  and  afterwards  sepa- 
rately occupied  in  receiving  profitable  instruction, 
while  they  had  also  good  opportunities  and  strong 
incentives  to  self-cultivation.  At  the  annual  gather- 
ing of  the  Young  Females'  Association,  Mr.  Bud- 
gett was  wont  to  regale  them  with  tea  and  straw- 
berries. A  gentleman  of  taste  and  education,  who 
has  heard  him  address  them  on  such  an  occasion, 
states  that  he  had  a  most  remarkable  art  of  gaining 


iN  HIS   OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.         305 

their  attention,  and  interesting-  tliem  in  his  views. 
He  was  especially  struck  with  his  power  of  making 
it  appear  to  them  that,  if  only  godly  and  in  earnest, 
they  might  rise  to  circumstances  of  comfort  and  op- 
portunities of  usefulness.  I  believe  that  these  asso- 
ciations cost  him  annually  about  fifty  pounds ;  but 
he  had  his  reward  in  the  improvement  of  many, 
and  the  clear  conversion  of  some. 

He  also  instituted  a  catechumen  class  for  young 
women,  which  he  regularly  met.  This  was  a  very 
favourite  engagement  with  him,  and  so  interesting 
did  he  make  it,  that,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  it 
was  attended  by  about  forty,  some  of  whom  had 
indeed  passed  from  death  unto  life,  and  all  of  whom 
evinced  intense  grief  at  his  loss. 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  shoddy  mill  ?  It  is  a  curi- 
ous sight.  You  find  a  multitude  of  rags  and  tat- 
ters gathered  from  all  the  winds  :  here  a  patch  of 
Irish  frieze,  there  a  shred  of  tartan ;  scraps  of  wo- 
men's shawls,  of  men's  pantaloons,  of  flannels, 
horse  rugs,  stockings ;  threads,  snips,  and  morsels ; 
blue,  black,  green,  and  all  hues ;  English,  Welsh, 
German; — a  strange  heap  of  the  offcast  awl  the 
defiled ;  hopeless  things  that  no  housewife  could 
work  up,  that  no  shivering  wretch  could  look  to  for 
comfort.  Yet  there  they  are  for  restoration.  See 
how  that  toothed  and  terrible  machine  makes  them 
look  more  hopeless  still ;  rends  up  even  rags,  tears 
up  tatters ;  champs,  wrests,  slashes,  and  flings  them 
out   at   last  fibres   and   choking  dust.     But  next 

comes  the  oil  can,  and  oil,  abundant  oil,  with  work- 

20 


306  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

ing  and  turning,  till  the  heap  begins  to  look  like 
some  caricature  of  wool.  Then  the  spinning-frame, 
and,  lo !  the  tatters  form  to  yarn  once  more ;  then 
the  loom,  where  the  tatters  turn  to  blankets,  drug- 
gets, pilot  cloth,  and  even  what  would  pass  under 
your  eyes  as  decent  broadcloth.  This  shoddy  covers 
many  a  respectable  floor,  flourishes  in  paletots  of 
low  caste,  and  goes  out  in  blue  blankets  to  New- 
Zealand  to  clothe  the  Maories. 

Now,  society  has  its  shoddy,  its  offcast  rags,  its 
hopeless  tatters,  polluted  and  displeasing  to  look 
upon  and  very  undesirable  to  touch.  The  respecta- 
ble world  has  passed  them  by  ;  they  have  lain  in 
corners  and  grown  viler  till  they  corrupted  away, 
the  receptacles  being  ever  filled  up  with  new  off- 
casts. But  God's  gospel  in  the  hearts  of  men  has 
set  them  to  search  for  these  refuse,  and  to  work 
them  up  again  into  the  texture  of  society.  The 
ragged  school  is  the  shoddy  mill ;  and  many  a 
poor,  unpitied,  and  unpromising  tatter  has  been 
recovered  to  a  creditable  place  among  men.  Mr. 
Budgett's  contrivance  was  a  shoddy  mill,  and  some 
right«good  pieces  has  it  yielded.  The  same  sub- 
stance is  in  all  men,  and  the  lesson  of  the  shoddy 
mill  is,  that  none  are  too  bad  to  be  rescued.  Only 
do  not  begin  to  flatter  the  rags  and  say,  You  are 
fair  and  beautiful  at  bottom  ;  you  only  want  air  and 
sun,  a  little  dye,  and  a  proper  brushing  to  match 
the  most  serviceable  cloth.  Nay,  they  must  be 
torn  to  pieces — rent  right  up,  or  they  will  only  be 
rags,  though  you  give  them  all  the  air  and  sun,  all 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.         307 

the  dye  and  brushing  imaginable.  The  offcasts  of 
men  are  just  so  :  you  will  never  make  good  citizens 
of  them  by  nice  speeches,  and  wise  lessons ;  the 
evil  that  is  in  them  will  survive  a  great  deal  more 
than  that.  They  are  bad  at  heart,  deceitful  and 
desperately  wicked  to  the  core  of  them ;  evil  is 
bound  up  in  their  impulses.  They  must  be  heart- 
smitten,  torn  to  the  quick ;  their  soul  pierced  through 
and  through  with  sharp  agonies  of  penitence,  with 
such  wounds  from  a  hand  we  see  not  as  made  brave 
King  David  roar,  with  inner  throes  that  will  rend 
all  their  desires  from  their  old  vile  objects,  with 
godly  sorrows  working  repentance — leading  them 
to  cry,  as  men  cry  whose  whole  soul  is  in  move- 
ment, "  Hide  thy  face  from  my  sins,  and  blot  out 
all  mine  iniquities ;  create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O 
God,  and  renew  a  right  spirit  within  me !"  And 
the  creating  hand  thus  evoked  from  chaos  will 
move  ;  "  God  who  caused  the  light  to  shine  out  of 
darkness  "  will  shine  "  in  their  dark  hearts  to  give 
the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in 
the  face  of  Christ  Jesus."  That  face  is  the  face  of 
a  Saviour,  a  friend  who  actually  does  deliver  a  poor 
man  from  the  foulness  of  his  breast.  This  face 
seen,  this  deliverance  felt,  the  glory  of  God  breaks 
in  upon  the  repenting  sinner  as  the  light  shooting 
first  athwart  chaos,  and  inside  his  soul  love,  joy, 
and  peace  rise  up  a  new  creation. 

Ye  that  laugh  at  this,  what  gospel  have  ye 
preached  ?  What  tribe  of  Cock-Roadites  have  ye 
ever  tamed?     What  refuse  of  our  cities  have  ye 


308  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MEKCHANT. 

ever  restored  ?  Ye  say  man's  heart  is  good ;  let 
this  eai-th  you  live  on,  every  inch  of  it,  and  every 
age  of  it,  rise  up  and  bid  you  not  lie.  Do  you  not 
hear  it  cry,  "  See,  see  all  the  tears  which  moisten 
me, — the  groans  I  echo — the  curses,  the  rages,  the 
murders  I  witness — the  hearts  that  are  gnawing, 
burning,  breaking — the  wrongs  that  are  doing — the 
graves  that  are  digging :  hear  the  voice  of  ten  mil- 

O  CO         o 

lion  miseries,  and  dare  you  utter  the  gibe,  '  heart 
good !'  What !  all  this  filth  and  shame  which 
cover  me  come  of  good !  this  robbery  in  Cock 
Road,  this  abomination  in  St.  Giles,  this  human 
flesh  and  blood  gluttony  in  bright  Polynesia, — all 
this  come  of  good !  From  Avhat  darker  abyss  of 
evil  are  you  sent  forth  that  you  look  on  all  this  out- 
flow of  the  heart  of  man,  and  looking  pronounce  it 
good  ?"  No,  the  all-searching  God  said  long  ago 
that  man's  heart  was  evil,  and  all  the  story  of  this 
earth  monotonously  echoes  "  Evil !"  Denying  it 
you  deny  revelation,  history,  your  own  heart's  ways ; 
denying  it  you  cut  yourself  off  from  all  hope  of  se- 
riously helping  man.  "  Make  the  tree  good ;"  that 
is  the  right  lesson  ;  you  say?  "  train  the  tree,  enrich 
the  soil,  let  the  aspect  be  sunny," — all  very  well  if 
the  tree  be  made  good ;  but  if  you  persist  that  the 
tree  does  not  need  grafting,  you  may  transplant  to 
the  sunniest  spot,  train,  dig,  manure,  and  fence,  but 
your  tree  will  bring  forth  crabs.  You  cannot  get 
good  fruit  by  collective  culture :  your  walls,  and 
suns,  and  drains,  and  manures  are  very  good,  but 
each   individual  tree   must  be   grafted — cut   right 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.         309 

away  from  nature's  stem,  set  bleeding  in  another — 
or  all  your  collective  culture  ends  in  crabs.  "  Make 
tbe  tree  good  :"  your  institutions  are  walls  and  as- 
pects, your  education  is  training ;  but  each  man  is 
as  individual  as  each  tree,  he  must  be  "  made  good," 
cut  off  from  his  fallen  nature,  grafted  all  tender, 
wounded  and  penitent  into  Christ ;  and  though  all 
the  trees  of  the  garden  had  been  so  grafted  and 
you  alone  remained,  yet  you  would  bear  but  crabs. 
Go,  then,  go  ye  that  have  a  heart  to  rescue  the 
outcasts  of  men,  go  teach  them,  clothe  them,  feed 
them,  heal  them,  do  all  love  can  do  for  them ;  but 
let  your  voice  ever  cry,  "Repent  and  believe  the 
gospel ;"  let  your  heart  ever  pant  to  see  them 
smitten  with  grief  at  their  sinfulness,  and  hasting 
to  Jesus  to  wash  them  from  their  sins  in  his  own 
blood. 

Another  of  his  favourite  labours  was  giving  away 
o-ood  books  and  tracts.  He  seldom  went  out  for  a 
drive  or  a  walk,  but  he  provided  a  supply  and  gave 
them  freely.  He  had  a  room  of  considerable  size 
occupied  with  book  shelves,  whereon  lay  all  manner 
of  volumes  and  of  tracts,  from  the  tiniest  child 
book,  up  to  respectable  duodecimos.  All  these 
were  his  stock  for  distribution,  and  were  replenished 
by  purchases  of  ten  pounds'  worth  at  a  time. 

In  all  the  concerns  of  his  neighbours  he  took  a 
lively  interest.  In  cases  of  family  broils,  his  media- 
tion was  often  called  in.  He  would  place  the  dis- 
puting relations  in  different  rooms  of  his  own  house, 
first  hear  one,  and  then  another,  till  he  had  got  to 


310  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MEECHANT. 

the  rights  of  the  case;  and  keep  him  from  the 
rights  who  could?  With  him  equivocation  was 
useless,  he  would  track  it  out.  When  he  had  mas- 
tered the  case  he  would  propose  his  terms  of  recon- 
ciliation, and  often  succeeded  in  effecting  a  perma- 
nent healing  where  there  had  been  most  painful 
sores.  . 

Over  the  prospects  of  young  persons  he  watched 
tenderly ;  and  when  he  saw  them  in  danger  of 
forming  wrong  connexions  for  life,  he  would  with 
prompt  and  persuasive  kindness  interfere.  Not 
confining  his  solicitude  to  his  own  children,  or  to 
the  respectable  youth  of  his  own  circle,  he  cared 
and  watched  for  the  humble  and  the  servant,  and 
with  a  rare  power  over  the  will,  succeeded  in  saving 
not  a  few  from  ill-judged  and  ungodly  marriages. 
This  testimony  I  have  had  not  only  from  observers, 
but  from  parties  who  felt  the  life-debt  they  owed 
him,  for  a  service  which  few  men  could  have  per- 
formed. 

His  desire  to  raise  all  about  him  was  constantly 
showing  itself.  Take  one  illustration  out  of  thoii- 
sands  : — Coming  out  of  a  hair-dresser's  rooms,  he 
paused  in  the  shop  and  looked  round.  "  O,  you 
sell  brushes,  and  things  of  this  kind  ?" 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Well,  I  suppose  you  sell  to  every  one  that 
comes  ?" 

"No,  indeed,  sir." 

"  But,  I  should.  At  all  events  you  try  to  sell  to 
every  one  that  comes  ?" 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        311 

"  Well,  no,  we  do  not,  sir ;  one  doesn't  always 
think  of  it." 

"  But  you  ought :  you  have  your  family  to  pro- 
vide for,  you  should  have  tact  and  push  ;  if  I  were 
in  your  place,  I  would  sell  to  every  one  that  came, 
and  you  ought  to  try." 

"Very  well,  sir,  suppose  we  begin  v/hh  you," 
making  a  show  of  displaying  some  wares. 

"Yes,  to  be  sure,  why  not? — let  us  see."  To 
work  he  sets,  and  by  way  of  encouraging  the  hair- 
dresser he  buys  brushes,  combs,  and  such  commod- 
ities to  the  extent  of  thirty-five  shillings.  It  is  not 
pleasant  to  go  into  a  shop  where  they  force  you  to 
buy  or  to  be  uncivil,  and  the  thing  is  sometimes 
pushed  intolerably ;  but  the  fact  stated  shows  Mr. 
Budgett's  desire  to  see  others  thriving. 

Thus  dwelt  he  among  his  own  people,  rising  up 
under  their  eye,  spreading  employment  on  all  hands, 
giving  an  example  of  industry  and  of  success,  teach- 
ing, preaching,  visiting,  relieving,  helping,  medita- 
ting, advising.  And  among  them  he  stayed.  "When 
he  grew  far  beyond  them  he  did  not  find  out  that 
Kingswood  was  unhealthy,  and  that  Clifton  or  Bath 
was  the  only  place  his  family  could  breathe  in.  No : 
he  clunff  to  them  and  their  wants.  He  saw  their 
rudeness,  but  instead  of  securing  the  polish  of  bis 
children  by  taking  them  far  from  the  poor  colliers, 
he  endeavoured  to  raise  and  bless  the  colliers  by 
sending  his  children  among  their  cottages  and  em- 
ploying them  in  their  schools.  But  in  all  his  efforts 
for  them,  the  soul  was  his  end,  though,  after  the 


312  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

example  of  him  who  loved  souls  most  and  bought 
them  dearest,  he  gave  for  the  body  all  that  he  could 
give.  The  individual  conversion  of  the  soul  was 
his  object  and  his  hope ;  he  knew  that  every  man 
Avhose  heart  was  changed  from  sin  to  holiness  did 
more  for  the  elevation  of  a  neighbourhood  than  a 
hundred^  other  appliances.  The  deep  interest  he 
felt  in  every  token  of  spiritual  life  is  evinced  in  the 
following  letter  to  the  young  and  beloved  friend, 
whose  notes  have  been  and  will  hereafter  be  of 
•Treat  value  to  us : — 


s> 


Bristol,  April  1,  1845. 
My  very  dear  Friend, — We  have  a  great  work 
going  on  here.  I  would  try  to  give  you  some  ac- 
count, but  I  am  just  now  pressed  for  time,  and  you 
will  be  more  delighted  to  come  and  spend  a  week 
with  us  and  see  for  yourself,  and  we  will  give  you 
some  heart-cheering  accounts.  Some  of  the  stoutest 
rebels  have  been  constrained  to  cry  aloud,  yea,  to 
roar  for  anguish  of  spirit;  and  God  has  graciously 
forgiven  their  sins  and  made  them  the  means  of 
bringing  others  to  seek  salvation.  There  is  a  gra- 
cious work  among  the  young  females,  say  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  years  of  age.  Do  come  before  the 
week  is  out,  and  stay  if  it  is  but  a  few  days.  Just 
drop  me  a  line  and  I  will  meet  you  at  the  station  ; 
or  find  your  way  to  Nelson-street,  and  I  shall  feel 
real  pleasure  in  conveying  you  to  Kingswood.  I 
think  we  have  added  above  two  hundred  and  fifty 
to  the  society,  and  old  professors  are  much  quick- 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        313 

ened.  The  work  appears  to  be  deep  and  genuine, 
and  likely  to  go  on ;  but  you  must  come,  and  I 
hope  very  soon. 

"  I  am,  my  dear  friend,  most  affectionately  yours, 

"  S.  B." 

Among  his  benefactions  to  Kingswood  stands  the 
noble  chapel,  close  by  which  he  lies.  He  did  not 
raise  it  from  his  own  funds,  but  he  raised  it  by  the 
combination  of  gifts  and  labours.  He  would  have 
it,  and  he  would  have  it  freq|from  debt.  In  Bristol, 
in  Bath,  in  London,  in  Liverpool,  he  begged  and 
was  rebuked,  and  was  successful.  To  a  man  so 
busy,  Avhose  time  was  precious  as  diamonds,  it  was 
no  small  matter  to  take  the  tedious  drudgery  of 
begging ;  but  he  had  set  his  heart  on  the  work ; 
what  he  said  in  his  own  business  he  said  in  his 
Master's  business,  "  Never  attempt,  or  accomplish." 
Local  feeling  was  against  the  enterprise ;  he  toiled 
almost  alone,  and  he  did  not  faint.  Towards  the 
last  he  resolved  on  concluding  the  matter  by  one 
great  meeting,  and  prepared  tea  for  above  twelve 
hundred.  His  "tact  and  push"  so  raised  excite- 
ment regarding  this  meeting,  that  persons  crowded 
from  Bristol  in  omnibuses,  cars,  vans,  and  all  vehi- 
cles available.  At  the  last,  tickets  were  besought 
on  any  terms,  and  fourteen  hundred  sat  down  to 
tea.  He  had  all  arranged  with  military  precision, 
so  that  tea  was  served  at  a  fixed  moment  and 
removed  in  half  an  hour.  Just  at  the  last,  a  cart 
was  upset  with,  I  think,  fourteen  gallons  of  tea  ; 


314  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

but  his  incredible  energy  repaired  tbe  mischief, 
and  the  serving  and  removing  were  effected  pre- 
cisely as  he  had  pre-arranged.  At  that  meeting  his 
heart  obtained  i.ts  desire ;  every  penny  for  the  erec- 
tion of  the  new  sanctuary  was  raised.  His  outburst 
of  joy  and  gratitude  was  moving.  At  the  first 
meeting  of  the  trustees  he  laid  down  sixty  pounds 
of  a  surplus.  There  it  stands,  that  chapel  built  by 
his  toil  and  gifts,  with  the  school-house  built  by  his 
sole  bounty ;  and  both  will  hereafter  ally  the  name 
of  Samuel  Budgett  wife  the  progress  of  light  and 
of  religion  in  Kingswood.  I  once  heard  a  holy 
woman  say,  "Were  I  rich,  I  think  nothing  would 
be  so  delightful  as  to  build  a  house  for  God,  and 
then  looking  down  from  heaven,  see  all  the  good 
that  was  going  on  under  that  roof." 

Several  neighbouring  chapels  were  not,  like  that 
at  Kingswood,  free  from  debt ;  Mr.  Budgett  felt 
toward  them  as  toward  his  own.  The  following 
description  of  his  doings  for  these,  by  Mr.  Carvosso, 
is  characteristic : — 

"  With  respect  to  his  liberality  to  the  cause  of 
God,  he  far  excelled  «any  one  that  /  have  met  with 
in  the  Church  of  Christ.  It  is  true  he  would  not 
give  without  an  eye  to  the  bringing  out  of  the  gifts 
of  others.  I  first  met  him  in  connexion  with 
chapels  at  a  tea-meeting  in  his  own  little  chapel  at 
Kingswood,  the  object  of  which  was  to  raise  funds 
for  the  chapel  at  Long  well  Green,  where  his  brother 
lived.  He  was  in  the  chair.  He  had  offered  fifty 
pounds  on  conditions ;  and  with  his  usual  "  tact  and 


EST  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        315 

push" — to  use  a  favourite  phrase  of  his  own — was 
trying  to  bring  others  up  to  the  mark.  A  paper 
was  handed  him  to  give  out  for  a  tea-meeting  at 
Fishponds,  at  which  it  was  proposed  to  pay  off  a 
small  part  of  the  one  hundred  pounds'  debt  on  the 
chapel  there.  He  read  it  and  paused,  and  said  if 
the  friends  at  Fishponds  would  endeavour  at  once 
to  clear  their  chapel  of  debt,  he  would  give  them 
fifty  pounds,  and  come  to  their  tea-meeting.  The 
thought  of  the  poor  people  there  raising  fifty  pounds, 
to  meet  Mr.  Budgett's  liberal  offer,  was,  with  most 
parties,  quite  out  of  the  question — yea,  oppression 
and-  not  kindness !  A  few  thought  differently — 
having  Mr.  Budgett  with  them  inspired  hope. 
After  tea  he  was  voted  to  the  chair.  He  made  a 
short,  telling  speech.  After  much  effort  the  thing 
was  done ;  and  it  was  deeply  affecting  to  see  with 
what  glee  all  sprang  on  their  feet,  and  with  what 
unanimity  and  joy  they  lustily  sang — 

'  Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow.'  " 

Such  was  the  effect  of  his  influence,  that  before 
his  death  all  the  chapels  in  the  Kingswood  circuit 
were  free  from  debt,  with  the  exception  of  some 
trifle. 

The  zeal  of  Mr.  Budo-ett  for  the  interests  of  his 
own  denomination  was  decided,  consistent,  and  ac- 
tive, but  not  sectarian;    his  sympathies,  influence, 

and  contributions  were  at  the  command  of  other 

• 

labourers  for  the  good  of  souls.     Let  the  following. 


316  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

testimony  of  Mr.  Gaskin  speak  as  regards  the  Estab- 
lished Church : — 

"It  is  now  nearly  eighteen  years  since,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  I  was  called  to  occupy  the  im- 
portant position  of  incumbent  minister  of  Kingswood. 
Perhaps  it  may  be  thought  somewhat  out  of  place 
here  to  speak  of  the  difficulties  which  I  found  to  be 
surrounding  me  when  I  first  entered  on  that  pecu- 
liar sphere,  presenting,  as  it  did,  ground  that  was 
yet  all  but  unbroken,  so  far  as  the  labours  of  the 
Church  of  England  had  been  brought  to  bear  upon 
it.  Without  some  reference,  however,  to  these  diffi- 
culties, the  generous,  unsectarian  qualities  of  Mr. 
Budgett's  mind  cannot  be  fairly  appreciated.  In 
him,  and  iu  his  elder  brother — with  whom  I  subse- 
quently became  so  closely  connected  by  marriage — 
I  soon  found  the  most  able  and  zealous  coadjutors 
in  every  good  work.  The  inhabitants  of  Kingswood 
were,  in  many  respects,  a  peculiar  people ;  but  they 
were  open  to  kind  treatment,  and  possessed  many 
excellent  qualities  for  which  I  shall  always  admire 
them.  But  their  peculiarities  were  of  such  a  kind, 
that  a  young  and  inexperienced  clergyman,  however 
well-intentioned,  might  have  involved  himself  in 
serious  troubles  with  them  had  he  been  left  to  adopt 
his  plans  in  ignorance  of  the  character  of  the  people 
amongst  whom  he  had  been  called  to  labour.  If 
the  Messrs.  Budgett — men  who  were  at  the  head 
of  so  large  and  influential  a  body  as  the  Wesleynn 
Methodists  at  Kingswood  .constituted — had  wished 
to  thwart  the  efforts  of  the  incumbent  minister, 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        317 

nothing  was  more  easy  than  for  them  to  do  so 
without  the  smallest  odium  attaching  to  them,  for 
no  overt  act  on  their  part  would  have  heen  neces- 
sary. They  had  merely  to  stand  by  and  allow 
their  young  clergyman  to  take  his  own  course ;  in 
all  reasonable  probability,  before  three  months  had 
elapsed  he  would  unwittingly  have  brought  himself 
into  collision  with  the  prejudices  of  the  people  to  an 
extent  which  he  would  never  have  removed.  But 
instead  of  this,  they  rendered — without  becoming 
one  whit  the  less  Wesleyan  Methodists,  and  I 
received — without  being  one  whit  less  a  Church- 
man, co-operation  of  the  most  cordial  and  liberal 
kind.  Indeed,  I  do  not  recollect  a  single  occasion 
of  my  asking  their  asastance  in  any  measure  I 
might  wish  to  carry  outior  the  spiritual  or  tempo- 
ral advantage  of  the  place,  without  the  im- 
mense influence  which  a  long  well-spent  life  had 
given  them  among  the  people  being  most  unreserv- 
edly placed  at  my  command.  Their  counsel  was 
always  given  in  the  kindest  and  most  courteous 
manner,  and  their  purse  was  open  to  an  extent  far 
beyond  anything  that  ever  appeared  to  the  public 
eye.  To  this  generous  and  liberal  bearing  on  the 
part  of  the  Messrs.  Budgett,  I  refer,  under  the  di- 
vine blessing,  much  of  the  kind  feeling  that  has 
prevailed  among  all  parties  in  Kingswood  for  so 
many  years,  much  of  the  success  which  has  attended 
the  efforts  of  the  different  denominations  of  Chris- 
tians there  for  the  best  interests  of  the  people,  and 
much  of  that  personal  confidence  reposed  in  me  and 


318  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

that  personal  attachment  cherished  for  me  by  my 
former  parishioners." 

We  have  already  seen  on  what  relations  he  lived 
with  Mr.  Glanville,  the  excellent  Independent  mi- 
nister of  the  place.  When  he  was  about  to  erect  a 
new  "  Tabernacle,"  Mr.  Buclgett  gave  his  exertions 
to  remove  some  difficulty  as  to  part  of  the  site, 
attended  the  meeting  for  raising  funds,  spoke,  offer- 
ed a  handsome  percentage  on  whatever  should  be 
raised,  and  tried  to  elicit  one  great  effort,  as  be  had 
frequently  done  before,  by  offering  that  if  they  raised 
seven  hundred  pounds  that  night,  he  would  make 
it  a  thousand. 

Such  a  heart  was  prepared  to  hail  a  movement 
like  the  Evangelical  Alliance.  Into  its  design  he 
entered  with  his  characteristic  ardour ;  its  meetings, 
hallowed  and  joyous  to  all  who  have  taken  part  in 
them,  were  to  him  welcome  "  as  the  water-springs ;" 
and  in  connexion  with  it  he  formed,  as  many  others 
have  formed,  some  of  the  most  precious  friendships 
of  his  life.  When  it  was  debated  in  the  family 
whether  the  house  should  be  enlarged  by  adding 
some  spacious  rooms,  he  was  very  indifferent, 
leaving  it  chiefly  to  his  children  to  decide ;  but 
when  some  one  observed  that  such  a  large  room 
would  be  very  convenient  to  gather  the  Alliance 
friends  together,  he  at  once  said,  "O  yes,  then  let 
it  be  done."  His  warehouse  chapel  in  Nelson-street 
had  been  previously  honoured  by  a  meeting  of  the 
leading  members  of  the  Alliance. 

Mr.  Budgett  was  "  a  neighbour"  to  the  people 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.        319 

of  Kingswood;  thousands  of  his  gold  and  thou- 
sands of  his  hours  were  given  for  their  weal,  and  to 
the  last  his  care  was  for  the  maintenance  amongst 
them  of  those  means  of  grace  which  had  been  so 
much  blessed.  Dating  from  the  time  of  his  boy- 
hood, he  had  seen  a  marked  improvement  in  the 
place,  and  toward  that  improvement  his  own  influ- 
ence, that  of  his  brother,  and  the  family  generally 
had  powerfully  contributed.  The  blessing  of  God 
on  the  labours  of  the  Methodists  had  been  the 
most  manifest  agency  in  this  good  work,  and 
though  Mr.  Buclgett  had  the  pain  to  see  those 
labours  seriously  hindered  in  his  last  months  by  a 
violent  agitation,  that  only  offered  to  him  a  new 
opportunity  of  sealing  his  testimony  of  affection  to 
the  neighbourhood  as  of  his  attachment  to  Method- 
ism  by  acts  of  wide-hearted  and  wonderful  munifi- 
cence to  sustain  Methodist  agencies  for  the  future 
good  of  the  people  he  loved. 

We  shall  best  close  this  chapter,  as  we  did  the 
last,  by  a  sketch  from  Mr.  Gaskin : — 

"  You  are  aware  of  the  amazing  influence  he 
exerted  whenever  the  interests  of  his  neighbours 
demanded  that  it  should  be  put  forth.  I  shall  con- 
fine my  remarks  here  to  the  manner  in  which  that 
influence  was  acquired.  I  do  not  think  that  it 
must  be  referred  to  his  munificence,  to  his  personal 
labours,  or  even  to  his  peculiar  and  varied  talents. 
We  may,  any  of  us,  call  to  mind  instances  in  which 
none  of  these  have  been  wanting, .and  yet  there  has 
been  a  marvellous  lack  of  influence.    I  have  always 


320  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

conceived  that  his  power  for  good  over  the  minds 
of  his  neighbours  must  be  referred  to  the  gentle- 
ness of  his  disposition  and  manners,  with  the  un- 
qualified confidence  in  the  integrity  of  his  principles 
which  he  inspired.  It  is  thus  I  trace  the  origin  and 
growth  of  the  influence  which  he  exercised  over 
me ;  and  it  is  thus,  I  am  persuaded,  that  the  hum- 
blest of  his  neighbours  who  are  capable  of  drawing 
the  deduction,  will  account  for  the  influence  which 
he  exercised  over  them.  A  man,  whose  frugal  in- 
dustry might  have  enabled  him  to  accumulate  a 
small  sum  of  money  for  a  time  of  need,  seemed 
perfectly  happy  about  it  when  Mr.  Budgett  had 
been  prevailed  upon  to  take  charge  of  it ;  I  need 
scarcely  add  that  while  the  poor  man  felt  that  his 
money  was  secure,  he  knew  also  that  the  thrift  and 
forethought  of  which  his  savings  were  a  proof, 
would  be  well  rewarded  by  one  who  loved  to  en- 
courage such  a  disposition.  The  very  '  hauliers '  on 
the  road  between  Kingswood  and  Bristol  perceived 
that  in  Mr.  Budgett  they  had  one  who  differed 
Avidely  from  most  of  those  with  whom,  by  their 
carelessness,  they  were  constantly  bringing  them- 
selves into  collision.  At  one  point  of  the  road  I 
have  witnessed  painful  altercations  between  these 
rough  spirits  and  gentlemen  who  have  been  inter- 
rupted by  their  ponderous  waggons :  angry  words 
from  the  party  incommoded  have  called  forth  a 
volley  of  abusive  and  profane  language,  accompa- 
nied with  a  violence  of  gesticulation  that  threatened 
a  breach  of  the  peace ;  while,  perhaps  only  a  few 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.         321 

minutes  before,  an  interruption  of  a  similar  kind 
between  my  relative  and  one  of  the  same  men  had 
terminated  in  a  very  different  spirit.  'Here,  Mil- 
some,'  he  would  say,  'oblige  me  by  drawing  aside 
the  head  of  your  "shafter," — ay,  thank  you;  never 
mind  the  "leader,"  I'll  manage  him  myself.  Al- 
ways have  your  eye  on  your  horses  and  on  anything 
that  is  coming  near  you  in  either  direction, — that's 
your  business,  you  know,  while  you  are  on  the  road 
with  your  team, — take  care  to  begin  drawing  your 
horses  aside  the  moment  you  see  a  carriage  of  any 
kind  coming,  if  you  think  you  are  in  the  way  ;  it 
saves  time,  and,  what  is  more,  it  prevents  unkind 
words  sometimes.  There,  thank  you,  good  morn- 
ing !'  All  this  would  be  uttered  in  his  usually 
quick  but  clear  mode  of  speaking  while  the  man 
would  be  getting  his  horses  and  waggon  on  one 
side.  There  would  be  the  expression  of  good  hu- 
mour beaming  from  the  eyes  of  our  swarthy  friend  ; 
he  seemed  to  feel  that  he  was  treated  like  one  of 
our  own  species,  and  he  would  acknowledge  it  by  a 
respectful  touch  of  the  hat  and  a  hearty  response 
to  the  morning's  salutation, — '  And  a  good  morn- 
ing to  you,  gentlemen !'  I  remember  we  were 
called  one  Saturday  afternoon,  rather  urgently,  into 
Bristol.  As  we  neared  the  gate,  by  the  '  Fire  En- 
gine '  public  house,  we  perceived  that  the  road  was 
literally  blocked  up  by  '  return '  waggons  and  horses, 
the  drivers  of  which  were  in  the  public  house.  A 
boy  Avas  sent  for  the  drivers.     '  Why,  is  that  you, 

B !'    exclaimed  Mr.  Budgett,  as  a  stout-built 

21 


322  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

fellow,  with  a  face  like  a  sweep's,  came  rushing  out 
of  the  house,  grasping  his  heavy  whip  in  the  one 
hand  and  hastily  drawing  the  back  of  the  other 
over  his  mouth,  fresh  from  the  can, — '  I'm  sorry  to 
see  you  there ;  here,  come  round  to  me,' — then, 

lowering  his  voice,  he  said, '  B ,  my  poor  fellow, 

you  have  a  wife  and  children  at  home.  Have  they 
anything  to  eat?'  'Not  much,  I  be  afeared,  sir,' 
said  the  man,  trying  to  force  a  smile  on  his  counte- 
nance, though  he  evidently  felt  ashamed.  'Well, 
tell  me  now,'  continued  Mr.  Budgett,  'how  much 
have  you  just  spent  ?'  '  Why,  threepence, — but  I 
had  it  gee'd  me  by  th'  lady  'at  hat  t'  call.'  '  Well, 
never  mind  who  gave  it  you,  but  tell  me  what  you 
spent  as  you  went  into  Bristol  this  morning?' 
'Why,  threepence.'  'Well,  the  lady  didn't  give 
you  that;  but  no  matter  how  you  came  by  the 
money  so  that  it  was  honestly  obtained.  What  I 
want  you  to  think  about  is  this : — By  your  own 
showing  you  have  spent  sixpence  to-day  on  beer; 
if  you  have  done  the  same  every  day  this  week,  and 
I  fear  you  have,  then  you  have  three  shillings  in 
your  pocket  less  than  you  might  have  had ;  now  as 
you  go  along,  just  consider  how  many  little  things 
that  three  shillings  would  have  bought  for  the  real 
comfort  of  your  wife,  yourself,  and  your  children. 
You  say  you  fear  they  have  but  little  to  eat  at  home 
now,  and  j'ou  have  spent  sixpence  on  yourself!  Is 
that  kind  ?  Nay,  don't  make  any  excuse.  I  know 
you  feel  you  have  done  wrong.  Don't,  my  poor 
fellow,  repeat  it.     One  word  inore ;  if  you  persist 


IN  HIS  OWN  NEIGHBOURHOOD.         323 

ill  this  habit  you  will  become  a  drunkard,  and  the 
Bible  tells  you,  "Drunkards  shall  not  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God ;"  it  will  lead  you  into  all  loicked- 
ness,  and  the  Bible  tells  you,  "  The  wicked  shall  be 

turned  into  hell !"    B ,'  he  added  very  solemnly, 

'  think  of  this,  tell  your  companions  there  what  I 
have  said  to  you;  and  above  all,  pray  that  God 
may  bless  what  I  have  said  to  you,  that  he  may 
make  you  a  more  thoughtful  and  a  better  man.' 
Poor  B listened;  the  assumed  smile  disap- 
peared; his  face  sank  almost  into  his  bosom,  and 
he  became  evidently  ashamed  to  look  at  us.  At 
the  close  of  Mr.  Budgett's  remarks,  lie  touched  his 
hat  in  a  respectful  manner,  and  said  with  much  ap- 
parent feeling,  '  Thank  you,  sir ;  it's  very  good  for 
gentlemen  such  as  you,  to  talk  this  ways  to  poor 
men  like  me.' 

"  Here  is  the  clue  to  his  influence  over  his  poorer 
neighbours, — an  influence  which  he  was  ever  aim- 
ing  to  turn  to  their  own  advantage — an  application, 
this,  of  that  influence,  to  which  they  Avere  most 
sensibly  alive.  Of  this  I  have  continual  evidence 
in  the  communications  I  am  still  receiving  from 
Kingswood.  Not  one  out  of  many  letters  I  have 
had  from  that  place  since  his  removal  which  has 
not  made  some  toucbing  allusion  to  it.  '  The  whole 
neighbourhood  mourns,'  says  one ;  '  We  have  lost 
a  Friend  !  I  dare  not  trust  myself  to  write  more,' 
is  the  remark  of  another;  'There  is  a  void  at 
Kingswood  which  will  never  be  filled,'  observes  a 
third.     For  myself  I  may  add,  in  the  words  of  a 


324  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MEKCHANT. 

favourite  writer,  '  Moveor  equidem  tali  amico  orba- 
tus,  qualis,  ut  arbitror,  nemo  unquam  erit  ;  ut  con- 
firmari  2>ossum,  nemo  certe  fait, — sed  tamen  re- 
cordatione  nostra?  amicitia?  sicfritor,  ut  beate  vixisse 
videar,  quia  cum  eo  vixerim.'1  "* 

Mr.  Gaskin  justifies  tliis  strong  language  by  a 
record  of  Mr.  Budgett's  conduct  as  Mend,  which 
shows  that  he  deserves  such  an  affection  as  he 
found,  and  fully  prepares  one  for  the  question 
wherewith  that  remarkable  narrative  concludes — 
"  "Will  it  be  matter  of  surprise  should  his  name  be 
one  of  the  last  that  tremble  on  my  dying  lips  ?" 

-  For  I  am  distressed  at  being  bereaved  of  such  a  friend, — 
as  none,  I  conceive,  will  be  to  me  again,  and,  as  I  can  confi- 
dently assert,  no  one  ever  was ; — but  yet  I  so  enjoy  the  recol- 
lection of  our  friendship,  that  I  seem  to  have  lived  happily 
because  I  lived  with  him. 


IN  THE  FAMILY.  H2.rj 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

IN     THE     FAMILY. 

"  0  the  blessings  of  a  home  where  old  and  young  mix  kindly, 
The  young  nnawed,  the  old  unchill'd,  in  unreserved  commu- 
nion."— Tupper. 

You  have  already  seen  Mr.  Budgett  in  his  father's 
house,  seen  the  love  of  parent,  brother,  and  sister 
which  he  cherished  there,  seen  him  leave  it  with  a 
rare  title  to  the  parental  blessing,  and  seen  him 
afterwards  twice  bestowing  his  all  for  his  sisters  and 
his  brother.  Before  me  lie  the  means  of  detailing 
his  deeds  of  filial  love  for  years — means  singularly 
afforded  by  one  detached  scrap  of  memorandum, 
jotted  down  for  a  purpose  that  is  manifest.  One  is 
almost  tempted  to  draw  aside  the  obscuring  veil  of 
generalities,  and  show  the  individual  facts ;  but, 
perhaps  that  would  only  be  to  indulge  one's  love  of 
displaying  a  most  beautiful  spectacle  of  nobleness, 
humility,  self-denial,  and  faith.  That  such  a  youth 
should  prosper  no  man  can  wonder ;  at  least  none 
with  faith  in  the  fifth  commandment. 

His  early  zeal  for  the  happiness  of  the  family  did 
aot  forsake  him  when  prosperity  came  flooding  his 
coffers  and  enlarging  his  sphere.  That  good  mother, 
whose  whole  life  had  been  to  him  a  gentle,  wise,  and 
saintly  instruction,  lived  to  see  him  far  up  the  emi- 
nence which  rewarded  his  faith  in  the  commandment 


326  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

with  promise.     In  a  letter  to  his  sister  Jane,  he  thus 
speaks : — 

"  Kingswood  Hill,  Jan.  30, 1831. 
"My  Dear  Sister, — I  am  just  returned  from 
Winterbourn  from  beholding  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting sights  this  earth  affords — I  mean  the 
happy,  truly  happy,  sick  and  dying  bed  of  a  saint 
ripe  for  glory.  Such  is  our  dear  mother.  You 
have  seen  her ;  she  is  not  now  less  happy,  only  less 
sensible  of  her  pain,  than  when  you  left.  Her  soul 
still  triumphs  in  prospect  of  the  glory  that  awaits 
her,  and  which  in  all  probability  she  will  in  a  few 
days  be  introduced  to.  'Mark  the  perfect  man,' 
etc.;  how  is  that  passage  illustrated  in  her  ex- 
perience !  May  it  be  equally  so  in  yours  and  mine. 
In  order  to  that  we  have  only  to  live  the  life  of  the 
righteous  and  we  are  sure  to  die  the  death.  I  hope, 
my  dear  J ,  you  are  making  progress ;  remem- 
ber we  are  no  longer  happy  or  safe  than  we  are 
vigorously  pressing   forward.     To    halt    is   to   go 

back.         *         *         *         *         * 

"  Your  affectionate  brother, 

"S.  B." 

At  the  outset,  we  might  have  suspected  that  his 
impulse  to  rise  sprang  really  from  love  of  money  or 
personal  ambition,  though  that  cloaked  itself  under 
regard  for  the  prospects  of  his  numerous  brothers 
and  sisters.  But  as  he  rose,  as  his  own  family 
increased,  as  new  honours,  new  circles,  new  allure- 
ments came  within  his  grasp,  how  did  he  remember 


IN  THE   FAMILY.  327 

those  of  his  own  house  ?  Did  he  keep  them  at  a 
distance  ?  Did  he  never  do  them  a  kindness  but 
when  teased  ?  Did  lie  shun  their  society  and  leave 
them  out  of  sight  ?  Ask  them  :  there  they  are  clus- 
tered about  him, — brothers,  sisters,  brothers-in-law, 
nephews,  and  nieces ;  ask  them  and  see  whether 
their  tones  as  they  speak  of  "brother  Samuel."  or 
"  uncle  Samuel,"  do  not  make  your  breast  feel  very  full . 
He  who  is  what  Samuel  Budgett  was  as  son  and 
brother  has  written  his  history  as  husband  before- 
hand, and  we  need  not  write  it  again.  As  a  father, 
he  ever  sought  to  make  his  children  happy  at  home ; 
he  would  provide  them  with  all  means  of  innocent 
amusement — whatever  the  grounds  could  yield  to 
give  them  healthful  play,  with  donkies  to  ride, 
curious  poultry  to  rear  and  study,  rabbits,  guinea 
pigs,  and  such  like  playmates  as  might  entertain 
without  endangering  them.  His  singular  openness 
of  heart,  too,  showed  itself  in  a  peculiar  form ;  he 
made  his  children,  from  their  earliest  years,  his 
confidants  and  his  counsellors.  They  knew  his 
business  affairs  intimately,  and  in  every  perplexing 
case  he  would  gather  them  round  him,  with  their 
mother  and  aunt,  and  take  their  advice.  His  stand- 
ing council  was  formed  of  the  whole  family,  even 
at  an  age  when  other  fathers  would  think  it  cruel 
and  absurd  to  perplex  a  child  with  weighty  concerns. 
But  with  him  all  such  concerns,  though  handled 
with  giant  energy,  were  viewed  with  Christian 
quiet,  as  connected  with  the  hand  of  Providence, 
and  capable  of  being  controlled  by  prayer.     What, 


328  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

therefore,  others  would  regard  with  worldly  anxiety 
alone,  he  would  regard  with  solicitude  certainly,  hut 
with  solicitude  balanced  by  faith.  In  such  a  temper 
he  could  disclose  all  his  perplexities  to  his  children 
without  lading  their  spirits  with  worldly  care.  This 
remarkable  confidence  displayed  itself  consistently, 
and  much  earlier  than  usual.  He  gave  his  sons  a 
responsibility  in  the  business,  and  showed  a  deference 
for  their  judgment  most  uncommon  for  a  man 
whose  fortune  was  of  his  own  gathering.  Men  of 
that  class  are  prone  to  treat  their  sons  as  children 
when  they  are  youths,  and  as  youths  when  they  are 
men,  as  if  they  thought  that  because  the  wisdom  of 
the  family  was  born  with  them  so  with  them  it  will 
die.  A  proof  of  this  perfect  reliance  upon  his  chil- 
dren was  given  in  the  fact,  that  when  the  eldest  son 
was  only  about  twenty  years  of  age,  he  allowed  his 
four  boys  to  go  alone  upon  the  continent  for  about 
seven  weeks.  Such  a  stretch  of  confidence  could 
only  be  justified  by  very  ample  evidence  that  it 
would  not  be  abused ;  but  the  result  testified  that 
he  did  not  misjudge.  In  matters  of  expenditure 
the  same  confidence  was  manifested ;  and  when  his 
will  was  made  it  was  by  consultation  with  them  all 
unitedly.  But  this  confidence  was  as  far  from  in- 
dulgence as  can  be;  it  was  measured  and  calculated, 
and  had  it  been  abused,  a  strictness  as  measured 
and  calculated  would  have  immediately  taken  its 
place.  Mr.  Gaskin  has  beautifully  remarked  that 
he  knew  how  to  create  a  virtue  by  giving  one  credit 
for  it,  and  assuming  him  to  be  incapable   of  the 


IN  THE   FAMILY.  329 

opposite  vice.     This  mode  of  treatment  he  applied 
with  great  effect  around  his  own  hearth. 

In  seeking  moral  excellence  in  his  children,  Mr. 
Budgett  took  it  as  his  first  maxim,  that  they  were 
by  nature  inclined  to  evil,  and  therefore,  though  ca- 
pable of  restraint  and  polish  by  education,  must  be 
alienated  from  their  Creator,  and  liable  to  run  into 
open  iniquity  unless  they  became  partakers  of  a  new 
nature.  Born  of  Adam's  stock,  they  partook  of 
Adam's  taint ;  born  of  a  race  of  sinners,  they  lay 
under  the  curse  of  sin ;  but  born  under  the  pro- 
visions of  a  redemption  whereby  all  families  on  the 
earth  are  blessed,  under  the  reign  of  a  Saviour  through 
whom  the  "free  gift  came  upon  all  men  to  justifi- 
cation of  life,"  they  were  capable  of  being  created 
anew  in  the  image  of  God.  These  two  things — 
that  his  children  were  sinful  and  needed  a  new 
birth,  that  they  were  redeemed  and  might  be  born 
again — were  certain  and  seiious  things  with  Mr. 
Budgett;  and  these  are  the  two  things  which  all 
who  would  promote  goodness  upon  earth,  in  family, 
nation,  or  world,  must  lay  to  heart.  Forgetting 
them,  men  whiten  the  outside  of  the  sepulchre,  but 
the  dead  men's  bones  are  hideous  within.  The 
great  heresy  and  ignis  fatuus  of  our  day  is  the  doc- 
trine that  man  is  good  at  heart ;  a  tree  to  be  trained, 
not  needing  a  graft.  Some  avow  it,  some  stealthily 
difluse  it,  some  proceed  upon  it  unconsciously.  To 
the  whole,  to  the  sinless,  Christ  has  no  mission. 
Fallen,  but  redeemed ;  prone  to  evil,  but  capable 
of  being  made  holy ;  loving  the  creature,  but  capable 


330  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

of  loving  the  Creator  ;  under  the  dominion  of  sin,  but 
capable  of  being  freed  from  sin  and  made  servants  of 
God — that  is  the  condition  of  all  children,  and  Mr. 
Budgett  happily  knew  it  to  be  the  condition  of  his. 
From  their  early  years  his  prayers  and  influence, 
joined  with  those  of  their  mother  and  aunt,  were 
directed  to  this  one  end,  that  God  might  "  take  away 
the  heart  of  stone,  and  give  them  a  heart  of  flesh." 
And  in  that  family,  so  united  and  so  open  of  heart, 
think  you  not  there  were  the  seeds  of  mighty  sins, 
had  those  seeds  been  left  to  grow — enough  indica- 
tion of  a  fallen  nature  to  cost  hours  of  extreme 
anxiety,  of  most  importunate  prayer  ?  Family  altar, 
Sabbath  holiness,  works  of  charity,  friends  who  fear- 
ed God, — all  these  advantages  were  richly  enjoyed 
by  those  children ;  but  tempers  and  inclinations 
which  might  mar  their  whole  life,  and  a  forgetful- 
ness  of  God  which  might  mar  their  eternitv,  were 
not  to  be  charmed  away  from  human  nature  by 
outward  agencies  like  these,  without  the  close  and 
inward  acting  of  God's  own  Spirit  on  the  heart. 
You  do  not  believe  in  this  close  and  inward  action 
of  God's  Holy  Spirit  to  make  the  bad  heart  good. 
You  hand  poor  man  over  to  a  drear,  chill  world, 
without  a  Father  nigh  at  hand,  without  a  Saviour 
who  actually  does  deal  with  his  bosom  and  bless  it 
with  deliverance  from  sin.  You  see  divine  power 
upholding  a  world  to  contain  us,  a  sun  to  light  and 
warm  us,  renewing  the  herbs  and  trees,  the  gene- 
rations of  beasts  and  birds  for  us,  making  all  earth 
alive  with  ten  million  million  agencies  to  feed  and 


IN  THE  FAMILY.  331 

clothe  and  variously  delight  us;  yet  you  think  that 
the  one  thing,  which  is  far  more  to  us  than  all  the 
rest, — the  way  to  find  a  quiet,  holy  heart,  which 
may  dwell  here  in  love  and  goodness, — is  precisely 
the  one  thing  He  has  left  to  be  settled  by  the  philo- 
sophers instead  of  providing  it  himself.  Not  so 
thought  Mr.  Budgett ;  not  so  his  helpers  at  home : 
they  had  a  deep,  fast  faith  that  God  is  love,  that 
his  love  is  close  and  fatherly,  that  it  makes  man's 
heart  its  peculiar  care,  because  man's  heart,  in  its 
own  joy  or  bitterness,  gives  a  taste  to  all  things 
here.  They  believed  that  He,  the  holy  Father,  is 
nigh,  very  nigh,  and  knows  us ;  that  in  Christ's 
sacrifice  the  justice  which  would  forbid  his  meeting 
with  the  vile  is  satisfied,  and  that  when  we  turn  to 
him  now,  crying,  "  Father,  I  have  sinned  against 
heaven  and  before  thee,  and  am  no  more  worthy 
to  be  called  thy  son,"  he  sends  forth  his  own  Spirit 
into  our  heart,  who  there  works  a  wonder, — a  won- 
der which  holy  men  of  God  call  a  "  new  creation," 
which  the  Son  of  God  called  a  "new  birth,"  and 
which  makes  us  delight  to  commune  with  our  Maker, 
and  sets  us  upon  battling  against  sin  as  "  seeing  him 
that  is  invisible."  That  his  children  might  thus  be 
changed  was  his  earnest  solicitude :  and  in  that  his 
heart  was  comforted ;  for  early,  very  early  he  saw 
them,  as  one  by  one  they  sprang  up,  smitten  with 
deep  contrition  for  their  sins,  turn  earnestly  to  the 
Redeemer,  seek  his  mercy,  find  it,  and  live  to  make 
his  heart  glad  in  life's  warm  heyday,  and  to  cheer 
the  hours  that  bordered  on  the  grave. 


332  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

The  religion  his  children  were  taught  to  seek 
they  were  taught  to  practise,  not  only  in  the  quiet 
virtues  of  home  life,  but  in  the  active  toil  of  piety : 
— at  Cock  Road  and  other  schools,  among  the  young 
people  of  the  Association,  in  the  cottages  of  the  poor, 
and  in  every  place  Kingswood  afforded  for  training 
them  in  the  duties  of  a  Christian  neighbour.  To 
his  daughter,  when  yet  a  child,  he  thus  writes,  show- 
ing how  he  placed  the  one  thing  needful  first  before 
their  minds: — 

"  Bristol,  February  23,  1843. 
"  My  dear  Sarah  Ann, — Your  kind  note  I  duly 
received  by  the  hand  of  your  brother  James,  for 
which  I  thank  you.  Be  assured  it  gives  me  much 
pleasure  to  know  that  I  am  affectionately  remem- 
bered by  any  member  of  my  family,  and  especially 
by  my  only  little  daughter.  I  hope  you  are  en- 
deavouring to  be  a  good  girl.  If  you  knew  how 
much  the  happiness  of  those  who  love  you  de- 
pended on  your  conduct,  I  think  that  if  nothing 
else  proved  a  sufficient  motive  to  good  behaviour 
that  would ;  but  then  my  dear  little  girl  knows 
very  well  that  her  own  happiness  both  in  this 
world  and  the  next  depends  on  her  giving  her 
heart  to  God.  Do  not,  my  dear  child,  live  one 
hour  without  being  satisfied  that  God  is  just  now 
pleased  with  you,  that  is,  that  you  have  his  favour ; 
for  we  are  happy  if  Ave  share  his  smile,  his  counsel, 
and  his  care.  May  you,  my  dear  child,  be  truly 
devoted  to  God  in  youth,  and  then  you  will  be  pre- 


IN  THE  FAMILY.  333 

pared  for  a  useful  life  or  fit  for  early  death  !  I  dare 
say  how  happy  you  all  are.  You,  may  write  to  me 
as  often  as  you  please,  and  I  will  endeavour  to  an- 
swer your  letters.  Tell  me  all  the  workings  of  your 
little  mind,  all  your  hopes  and  all  your  fears,  all 
your  joys  and  all  your  sorrows.  Please  give  my 
very  kind  love  to  all  at  home,  and  believe  me,  my 
dear  Sarah  Ann,  your  affectionate  father, 

"  S.  B." 

The  following  also  testifies  how  much  his  heart 
was  occupied  with  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his  child- 
ren, and  how  he  rejoiced  that  they  were  all  walk- 
ing in  the  paths  of  righteousness  : — 

"Ilfracombe,  Saturday,  November  &h,  1847, 
"Eight  o'clock. 

"My  dear  little  Sally, — Your  kind  letter  to 
mamma  we  duly  received,  and  I  would  have  written 
to  you  before  now,  but  I  have  been  very  unwell — 
so  weak  that  I  have  scarcely  been  able  to  read  or 
write  anything  without  doing  me  harm ;  but  I  am 
thankful  to  inform  you  I  am  now  getting  better, 
and  I  hope  soon  to  recover  my  strength.  I  assure 
you  we  think  and  talk  of  you  very  often,  and  we 
do  not  cease  to  pray  for  you.  What  a  mercy  it  is, 
my  dear  child,  that  as  a  family  we  are  all  seeking 
our  happiness  from  one  source,  and  that  the  right 
one.  How  insignificant  does  everything  else  look 
when  compared  with  this,  even  in  this  life  and  in 
the  possession  of  health,  wealth,  and  all  that  the 
Avorld  calls  great  and  good  ;  but  look  a  little  further 


334  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

— a  sick  bed,  a  dying  hour,  a  judgment-day,  all  of 
which  will  very  |pon  be  present, — and  how  then 
shall  we  value  all  beside  this  one  thing  needful,  this 
divine  love !  The  Lord  fill  my  dear  child's  heart, 
and  then  from  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the 
mouth  will  speak,  and  you  will,  you  must,  however 
unconsciously,  be  made  useful  to  others. 

'  'Tis  worth  living  for  this, 
To  administer  bliss, 
And  salvation  in  Jesus's  name.' 

I  believe  we  are  all  as  a  family  going  to  heaven. 
Glory  be  to  God  !****..* 
"  Yours  affectionately, 

"  Papa  and  Mamma." 

In  describing  the  entertainments  of  the  Sunday 
school  children  in  the  grounds,  avc  introduced  his 
second  son,  Edwin.  In  him,  more  than  in  any 
member  of  the  family,  appeared  the  stronger  traits 
of  his  father's  character,  with  touches  of  worth  pe- 
culiar to  himself.  Frank,  vivacious,  open,  with  a 
clear  head,  a  quick  glance,  a  commanding  look, 
prompt,  firm  action,  a  hearty  laugh,  a  mellow  voice, 
and  a  musical  taste  which  on  a  summer  eve  would 
sometimes  make  the  place  joyful  with  outdoor 
melody ;  in  business,  a  master  for  decision,  order, 
and  authority ;  at  home,  a  son  in  love  and  obedi- 
ence, a  brother  to  be  admired  and  delighted  in ;  in 
school,  a  teacher  ever  diligent;  in  prayer,  devout, 
fervent,  and  prevailing;  in  the  cottage,  a  friend  to 
help,  to  warn,  to  plead  upon  his  knees  ;  among 
young  friends,  a  hearty,  happy  companion,  a  kindly, 


IN  THE  FAMILY.  335 

winning  advocate  for  devotedness  to  God,  who  would 
tell  of  the  blessings  to  be  found  at  the  throne  of 
grace,  and  lead  the  way  thither,  and  stay  in  long 
and  eager  wrestlings.  Such  was  Edwin,  and  if  all 
delighted  in  him  do  you  wonder  ?  If  you  think 
that  I  say  what  he  was  not,  go  and  ask  any  who 
knew  him,  and  they  are  many. 

The  summer  of  1849  shone  bright  on  Kings- 
wood  Hill.  All  things  were  flourishing  ;  the  busi- 
ness was  swelling  with  prosperity ;  new  and  most 
charming  friendships  had  been  opened  to  the  family  ; 
the  father  was  hale  and,  as  men  say,  young ;  the 
eldest  son  on  the  point  of  a  union  wherein  all  must 
every  way  rejoice ;  the  house  was  the  scene  of  a 
lono-  visit  from  an  eminent  servant  of  Christ  whose 
mild  goodness  would  be  a  beauty  to  be  estimated 
there.  On  the  lawn  the  whole  staff  of  their  men 
had  feasted,  the  merry  Sunday  school  children 
sported  while  Edwin  was  life  to  them  all ;  and  at 
Edwin's  own  request  the  boys  of  Kingswood  school 
had  an  entertainment  and  an  evening's  play.  The 
rest  shall  be  told  by  the  friend  we  quoted  before. 

"The  Sabbath  of  July  22d  found  Edwin,  as 
usual,  doing  and  receiving  good.  In  the  evening, 
after  a  profitable  day  in  the  school  and  sanctuary,  he 
united  with  his  brothers  in  singing  Charles  Wesley's 
beautiful  hymn,  commencing, — 

'  How  happy  every  child  of  grace, 

Who  knows  his  sins  forgiven ! 
This  earth,  he  cries,  is  not  my  place, 

I  seek  my  place  in  heaven ; 


33G  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

A  country  far  from  mortal  sight : — 

Yet,  0 !  by  faith  I  see 
The  land  of  rest,  the  saints'  delight, 

The  heaven  prepared  for  me.' 

The  united  worshippers  seemed  to  rise  with  the 
spirit  of  their  theme ;  and  when  they  came  to  the 
last  verse  but  one,  the  sentiment  was  in  remarkable 
unison  with  what  was  to  follow.  At  that  moment 
their  father,  who  was  just  leaving  the  room,  struck 
with  the  sweetness  of  the  tune  and  at  once  awed 
and  delighted  with  the  sentiments,  turned  back  and 
lingered  a  few  moments  longer,  while  his  children 
were  singing,  in  a  strain  in  which  Edwin's  voice 
was  neither  feeblest  nor  least  harmonious, — 

'  Then  let  me  suddenly  remove, 

That  hidden  life  to  share  ; 
I  shall  not  lose  my  friends  above, 

But  more  enjoy  them  there. 
There  we.  in  Jesus'  praise  shall  join, 

His  boundless  love  proclaim  ; 
And  solemnize  in  songs  divine 

The  marriage  of  the  Lamb.' 

An  aspiration  how  soon  to  be  realized  ! 

"  As  a  member  of  the  Wesleyan  Society  in 
Kingswood,  he  was  very  regular  and  punctual  in 
attendance  on  his  class ;  and  on  Tuesday  evening 
he  was  promptly  there,  and  in  his  usual  seat.  O 
how  well  to  be  in  the  way  of  duty  with  death  so 
near!  His  leader  asked  kim,  with  commendable 
fidelity,  if  he  could  then  testify  that  he  was  as- 
suredly born  again,  made  a  child  of  God,  and  con- 
sequently an  heir  of  heaven.     Edwin  humbly,  but 


IN  THE  FAMILY.  337 

distinctly,  replied,  '  I  feel  thankful  that  I  do  know 
that  I  am  a  child  of  God.     1  have  had  in  the  past 
week  seasons  of  communion  with  him,  and  desire 
more  constantly  to  realize  his  presence,  and  live  to 
his  glory.'     The  meeting  concluded,  and  he  was  in 
apparently  perfect  health,  and  so  he  retired  to  rest. 
The  next  morning  he  complained  a  little.     About 
the  middle  of  the  day  the  symptoms  increased  upon 
him  and  became  serious,  producing,  besides  pain, 
faintness  and  prostration  of  strength.     His  eldest 
brother  sent  in  the  utmost  alarm  for  the  surgeon, 
and  a  physician  besides,  who  for  two  hours  resorted 
to  every  means  within  their  power  to  stay  the  at- 
tack, but  all  to  no  purpose.     He  was  then  hurried 
home  in  a  close  carriage  :  cramp  supervened,  and 
before  evening  there  was  no  doubt  of  the  nature  of 
the  disease.     At  five  o'clock  he  was  assisted  to  bed, 
and  asked,  '  Supposing  the  worst  should  come,  do 
you  feel  any  fear  ?'     '  O  no,'  he  said,  '  I  feel  I  am 
safe !'  and  responded  in  the  affirmative  to  some  ob- 
servations which  were  made  in  reference  to  having 
the  fear  of  death  taken  away.     The  nature  of  the 
disease  prevented  further  conversation,  excepting  so 
far  as  that  he  occasionally  gave  a  brief  assurance 
of  his  calm  repose  upon  the  atonement  of  his  adora- 
ble Saviour,  and  that  his  presence  was  manifested 
to  him.     His   mind  was  perfectly  composed   and 
tranquil  all  night,  while  the  vital  powers,  notwith- 
standing all  remedies  that  were  used,  were  sinking 
fast ;  and  at  half-past  twelve  on  Thursday  morning, 
Julv  26th,  he  gently  fell  asleep  in  Christ." 

22 


338  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

This  was  no  slight  stroke ;  and  how  was  it  taken  ? 
That  shall  be  told,  not  by  me,  but  by  an  eyewit- 
ness.    Mr.  Carvosso  says  : — 

"  The  moment  he  either  felt  or  saw  the  rod,  '  / 
have  sinned,'  was  on  his  lips  and  in  the  depths  of 
his  heart.     Hence,  in  the   distressing  loss  of  his 
lovely  son,  Edwin,  compared  with  the  painful  con- 
sciousness of  his   own  deserts,  the  stroke  of  the 
cholera  and  bitter  bereavement  were  '  light.'     The 
dread  evening  when  his  loved  son  was  writhing  in 
the  grasp  of  the  disease,  leaving  him  in  other  hands, 
he  meets  his  class  and  then  takes  a  poor,  intelligent, 
pious  man,  a  local  preacher,  'his  own  son  in  the 
faith,'  and  retires  in  darkness  to  the  lone  summer- 
house  in  his  extensive  lawn,  and  they  long  con- 
tinued wrestling  together  'with  strong  crying  and 
tears,' — the  personal  dread  of  His  wrath  who  is 
'  glorious  in  holiness '  absorbing  the  anguish  of  the 
purest   natural    affection.      Returning   in    the   ad- 
vanced night  to  his  awfully-afflicted  dwelling,  with 
the  cry,  'My  sins,  my  sins,  are  the  cause  of  all 
this !'  his  pious  children  gather  round  him,  and  all 
in  succession,  from  the  oldest  to  the  youngest,  are 
heard  pleading  with  God  for  their  father's  consola- 
tion and  deliverance.     This  piercing  apprehension 
of  the  evil  of  sin,  with  the  powerfully-healing  balm 
of  divine  grace,  given  pre-eminently  in  answer  to 
the  '  prayer  of  faith,'  prepared  him  and  his  family 
for  such  a  manifestation  of  passive  piety  as  I  do  not 
recollect  ever  elsewhere  to  have  witnessed.     A  few 
days  afterwards,  returning  from  the  conference,  ex- 


IN  THE  FAMILY.  339 

pecting  on  entering  his  dwelling  to  enter  a  cloud 
whose  '  darkness  might  be  f&Ltf  what  was  my  sur- 
prise to  find  it  a  true  dwelling  of  an  Israelite,  all 
'  light  within.''  The  darkness  was  outside ;  here 
they  all  walked  in  the  light  of  the  Lord,  and  all 
tears  were  wiped  from  every  eye.  I  beheld,  and 
was  edified;  I  wondered,  and  shall  never  forget! 
Mr.  Budge tt  not  only  murmured  not,  but  was  cease- 
less in  praises  that  he  and  his  family  had  been  dealt 
with  so  mercifully.  I  knew  how  he  loved  his  son, 
and  what  he  expected  from  him." 

Happy  in  his  own  family,  he  was  solicitous  for 
the  conversion  of  other  young  persons  who  came 
within  his  influence.  That  young  friend  whose 
notes  we  have  used  is  an  example.  From  the  time 
that  Methodism  took  root  in  Kings  wood,  there  had 
always  been  a  succession  of  lively  and  pious  men 
among  the  colliers  ;  and  these,  with  flowing  hearts, 
delighted  to  declare  at  the  "  lovefeasts,"  in  their 
own  plain  speech,  the  great  goodness  of  the  Lord 
to  their  souls.  It  was  not  uncommon  for  persons 
to  come  from  a  distance  to  hear  and  be  edified  by 
these  simple  declarations  of  the  power  of  grace  to 
renew.  One  Easter  Monday  our  young  friend  and 
a  sister  had  come  from  Bath  to  Kingswood ;  and 
Avere  descried  in  the  chapel  by  Mr.  Budgett,  who 
knew  their  family.  At  the  close  of  the  service  he 
went  up  to  them,  and  at  once  made  himself  their 
friend,  and  would  not  be  denied,  but  home  with 
him  they  must  come.  He  soon  won  their  confi- 
dence, and  after  a  while  took  them  out  for  a  walk, 


340  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

leading  them  away  to  a  cottage  at  some  distance, 
where  a  young  woman  was  dying  in  Christian 
peace.  On  the  way  he  affectionately  inquired 
whether  they  had  given  their  hearts  to  God,  and 
counselled  them  early  to  seek  the  blessings  which 
hallow  youth  and  age.  After  they  had  left  the 
cottage,  they  saw  a  crowd,  and  two  men  stripped 
to  the  waist,  boxing.  This  hideous  sight,  though 
strange  to  them,  was  only  too  familiar  to  their  new 
friend,  who  at  once  hastened  towards  the  spot  and 
with  great  authority  separated  the  combatants. 

With  this  young  friend  he  maintained  a  frequent 
correspondence,  gently  begging  for  two  letters  to 
his  one,  in  consideration  of  his  want  of  leisure. 
With  many  other  young  persons  also  he  corres- 
ponded, ever  urging  upon  them  the  supreme  im- 
portance of  piety.  He  was  exceedingly  fond  of 
having  at  his  own  house  the  youth  of  other  godly 
families;  and  cases  occurred  wherein  these  visits 
were  the  means  of  their  conversion,  while  in  no 
instance  could  they  reside  in  that  home  without 
becoming  more  and  more  alive  to  the  charms  of 
vital  and  working  godliness.  It  is  not  pleasant 
and  it  is  not  meet  to  write  about  the  living:  this 
fact  excludes  much  we  should  love  to  tell  in  this 
chapter;  but  the  rule  is  good  to  be  silent  on  the 
virtues  of  those  who  are  still  here.  The  only  case 
wherein  one  feels  quite  at  home  in  praising  them, 
is  when  worthy  names  are  aspersed.  Were  it  not 
for  this,  we  might  narrate  beautiful  instances  of 
happy  deeds  done  under  Mr.  Budgett's  roof. 


IN  THE  FAMILY.  341 

We  may  give  a  few  specimens  of  Mr.  Budgett's 
correspondence  with  his  young  friends;  it  will  be 
seen  how  free  and  tender  is  his  style,  as  if  it  were 
an  elder  brother,  rather  than  one  so  much  beyond 
thern  in  age,  and  with  so  much  of  what  would  in- 
duce, in  most  men,  a  high  sense  of  consequence. 
The  first  extract  is  from  a  note  written  to  his  friend 
oft  referred  to,  as  the  date  shows,  only  a  few  days 
before  Edwin's  death ;  and  it  would  seem  as  if  his 
thoughts  were  under  sacred  preparation  for  the  event 
yet  unforeseen. 

"  Kingswood  Hill,  July  18,  18-49. 
"My  dear  Friend, — I  might  almost  conjecture 
you  had  been  busy  in  hay  harvest  or  something  else, 
for  it  seems  so  lonff  a  time  since  I  have  either  seen 
or  heard  from  you ;  at  any  rate  I  hope  you  will 
make  some  allowance  for  my  long  silence  when  I 
tell  you  that  I  have  been  from  home,  and  have  had 
company.  Do  you  ever  intend  coming  to  see  us 
again  ?  You  may  be  assured  I,  indeed  we  all  shall 
be  as  glad  to  see  you  as  ever,  unless  you  stay  away 
so  long  as  to  make  us  forget  you.  But  now  are 
you  prospering  in  the  best  things  ?  What  a  wilder- 
ness does  this  world  seem  without  the  hope  of  the 
gospel !  how  exceedingly  uncertain  is  everything 
here !  What  a  mercy  we  have  the  Bible !  Please 
write  me  with  your  usual  freedom,  and  believe  me, 
with  very  kind  remembrance  to  papa  and  mamma, 
&c,  as  ever,  your  sincere  and  affectionate  friend, 

"S.  B." 


342  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MEKCHANT. 

In  the  following  letter  we  see  his  judgment  on 
reading  religious  biography : — 

"  Kingswood  Hill,  February  17,  1849. 

"  My  dear  Friend, — I  am  of  opinion  that  there 
is  scarcely  any  class  of  reading  more  profitable  to 
our  growth  in  grace  than  choice  pieces  of  religious 
biography — such  as  Brainerd,  Martin,  Fletcher,  Wes- 
ley, Richmond,  Bramwell,  John  Smith,  M'Cheyno, 
Carvosso,  Mrs.  West,  Oyer,  Bingham,  and  a  host 
of  others.  All  good  things  require  to  be  read  pray- 
erfully and  in  faith.  Are  we  not  too  apt  to  think 
there  was  something  peculiar  in  the  individuals 
rather  than  in  the  faith  by  which  they  derived  all 
their  excellences  ?  The  fountain  of  all  good  is  as 
full  and  as  free  of  access  now  and  to  us  as  ever  it 
was  to  them,  and  we  have  only  to  exercise  the 
same  faith  and  all  the  good  will  be  as  surely  ours 
as  ever  it  was  theirs.  May  the  Lord  help  my  dear 
friend  and  me  to  enter  more  fully  into  the  gra- 
cious designs  of  our  heavenly  Father  concerning 
us ! 

"I  think  you  cannot  help  admiring  the  present 
beautiful  weather.  See  how  spring  and  summer 
are  approaching  already !  The  birds  sing  most 
merrily;  the  days  lengthen  very  fast;  the  flowers 
are  beginning  to  decorate  the  hedges  and  banks ; 
the  fields  are  increasing  in  verdure  and  beauty; 
and  I  hope  you  and  I  shall  endeavour  to  keep  pace 
with  all  nature  in  praising  our  Creator  and  Re- 
deemer.     Is  it  not  cheering  to  think  I  know  that 


IN  THE  FAMILY.  343 

God  is  love,  and  especially  that  he  loves  me.     Be- 
lieve me,  my  dear  E , 

"  Most  affectionately  yours,  S.  B." 

In  another  note  to  his  Bath  friend,  a  note  full  of 
kind  feeling,  I  find  these  remarks : — 

"  We  cannot  indeed  too  highly  value  time :  in 
this  I  have  been  truly  deficient.  If  we  would  rise 
early  we  must  begin  at  the  right  end — that  is  by 
going  to  bed  early,  or  ah  will  be  lost  labour.  You 
must  have  seven  hours'  sleep.  An  alarum  is  a  very 
good  thing ;  but  if  we  neglect  the  call  a  few  times, 
like  the  calls  of  the  Spirit  or  of  our  consciences,  it 
will  be  ineffectual. 

"I  am  glad  you  still  retain  love  to  God  after 
seven  years'  experience.  May  it  be  increased  seven 
times  seven  !  I  think  nothing  is  so  calculated  to 
remove  reserve  as  zeal  for  God  and  humility.  We 
think  too  much  of  ourselves  and  not  enough  of  the 
importance  of  being  found  faithful ;  may  you,  my 
dear  friend,  become  truly  simple  of  heart  and  dead 
to  the  opinion  of  others  when  it  stands  in  the  way 
of  duty.  You  have  not  wearied  me.  Your  letters 
are  no  tax  on  my  time,  I  am  always  very  glad  to 
hear  from  you,  and  the  more  freety  you  write  to  me 
the  more  you  please  me. 

"  I  have  scarcely  any  time  for  Milner.  Stock- 
taking is  too  near :  I  seem  just  as  full  as  I  can  pos- 
sibly be.  I  have  for  the  last  week  been  rising  at 
five,  and  have  as  much  as  I  can  do  until  ten  every 


344  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

day.  My  health  and  spirits  are  good.  My  wife  is 
poorly  but  improving :  all  the  rest  well.  With 
kind  remembrances  to  your  family  circle,  I  am,  my 
dear  friend, 

"  Yours  affectionately,  S.  B." 

Here  we  find  him  inciting  his  young  friend  to 
perseverance  and  faith  as  a  teacher : — 

"Kixgswood  Hill,  December  24,  1844. 

"  My  very  dear  Friend, — I  am  truly  thankful 
that  God  has  so  graciously  inclined  your  heart  to 
seek  your  happiness  where  alone  true  enjoyment 
can  be  found,  and  that  he  has  not  only  blessed  but 
made  you  a  blessing. 

"  If  you  are  faithful,  lie  will  give  you  grace  to 
lose  yourself  in  him,  as  a  drop  in  the  ocean,  and 
your  prayers  will  be  frequently  offered  and  gra- 
ciously answered. 

'  Keep  me  dead  to  all  below, 
Only  Christ  resolved  to  know, 
Firm  and  disengaged  and  free, 
Seeking  all  my  bliss  in  Thee.' 

You  will  feel  so  impressed  with  the  value  of  souls 
and  your  responsibility  to  God,  that  you  will  never 
rest  until  all  the  srirls  in  your  class  are  brought  from 
darkness  to  light.  I  remember  hearing  of  a  young 
person  who  had  thirteen  scholars,  and  for  several 
years  she  saw  but  little  fruit  of  her  labour  until  sin; 
was  almost  discouraged ;  but  instead  of  giving  up. 


IN  THE   FAMILY.  345 

she  began  to  wrestle  with  God  in  earnest,  perse- 
vering, faithful  prayer;  and  in  a  short  time  one  of 
the  girls  evinced  a  serious  concern  for  her  spiritual 
welfare,  and  began  to  inquire  with  deep  anxiety 
what  she  must  do  to  be  saved.  This  soon  spread 
through  the  class,  and  in  a  few  months  every  one 
of  the  children  gave  satisfactory  evidence  that  their 
hearts  were  changed.  I  have  little  doubt  but  that 
the  effect  will  be  equally  encouraging  on  your  part 
if  you  trust  alone  in  the  mighty  God  who  has  said, 
(Mark  xi,  24,)  '  Whatsoever  things,'  &c.  Let  this 
encouraging  passage  have  its  full  weight  on  your 
mind,  and  make  all  the  use  of  it  you  believe  your 
heavenly  Father  would  have  you. 

"  S.  B." 

How  many  busy  merchants,  with  such  an  estab- 
lishment upon  their  hands,  and  with  such  indoor 
and  outdoor  calls  upon  their  time,  would  take  pains 
thus  to  cherish  the  correspondence  of  pious  youth, 
partly  from  a  design  to  encourage  them  in  religious 
life,  partly  from  the  impulse  of  an  ardent  friend- 
ship ? 

His  letters  indicate  his  love  of  a  tour.  Wales, 
Scotland,  the  Lakes,  and  other  paths  of  beauty  were 
selected  for  summer  excursions ;  and  there,  amid  the 
works  of  the  heavenly  Father,  his  heart  rekindled 
all  its  best  emotions.  Nothing  did  he  enjoy  more 
than  a  drive  or  a  stroll  amid  beautiful  scenery, 
accompanied  by  members  of  his  family,  or  a  friend 
or  two,  heightening  the  pleasure  by  poetry,  hymns, 


34G  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

or  animated  rehearsals  of  God's  wonderful  provi- 
dence in  his  own  career.  The  flowers,  the  trees, 
and  the  singing  birds  would  all  set  his  thoughts  in 
motion,  and  elicit  warm  bursts  of  pleasure  and  of 
worship.  When  on  a  drive,  he  had  been  telling 
some  of  the  striking  passages  of  his  life  to  his  young 
friend.  She  said  laughingly  but  in  earnest,  "  Why, 
Mr.  Budgett,  your  life  ought  to  be  written  among 
the  lives  of  wonderful  men."  "  My  life  !"  he  said, 
"it  is  no  more  worth  writing  than  the  life  of  that 
bird  in  the  bush."  Of  his  children  and  of  their 
friends,  he  was  the  friend — one  might  ahnost  say 
the  comrade — and  in  his  open-heartedness  often 
made  them  more  intimate  with  his  grave  concerns 
than  they  could  bring  themselves  to  make  him 
with  their  lighter  ones.  Thus,  while  his  influence 
steadily  opposed  everything  that  was  evil,  no  cold- 
ness, no  sanctimonious  sharpness,  no  indifference  to 
youthful  zest  and  sensibility  ever  displayed  itself; 
and  yet  under  all  this  companionable  familiarity, 
there  was  a  basis  of  unrelenting  discipline  which 
was  not  shown,  but  which,  if  infringed  upon,  would 
yield  to  no  pressure  or  appeal. 

In  the  management  of  his  servants,  as  in  that  of 
his  men,  he  delighted  to  reward  diligence.  When 
any  special  instruction  was  well  carried  out,  some  lit- 
tle present  often  followed  ;  and  even  when  he  wished 
to  correct  a  fault,  sometimes  he  managed  to  do  it 
by  especial  commendation  of  a  small  display  of  the 
opposite  virtue,  or  by  some  trifling  gift.  He  once 
gave  his  cook  a  characteristic  reproof  on  the  subject 


IN  THE  FAMILY.  347 

of  punctuality.  He  could  not  bear  to  lose  a  mo- 
ment before  meals.  When  the  bell  for  breakfast 
was  rung,  he  sat  still  in  his  library  till  all  were 
assembled  for  prayer,  then  a  private  bell  summoned 
him,  and  so  not  an  instant  was  lost.  It  proved  on 
one  occasion  that  for  two  or  three  days  in  succession 
dinner  was  late ;  this,  of  course,  was  not  to  his  mind, 
yet  he  sent  "  cook  "  no  message.  Some  friends  were 
staying  in  the  house,  and  lie  made  the  whole  party 
agree  to  enter  the  dining-room  precisely  at  the  hour, 
and  take  their  seats  at  table.  This  all  did,  and  much 
to  their  amusement  waited  for  a  considerable  time. 
It  may  be  supposed  that  the  tidings  soon  travelled 
to  the  kitchen.  Not  certain,  however,  that  this  one 
lesson  would  suffice,  he  issued  the  same  order  for 
the  following  day.  Again  the  cook  heard  of  the 
whole  company  being  seated  at  a  table  without 
viands,  and  you  may  suppose  that  such  a  sermon 
on  punctuality  was  not  delivered  in  vain. 

No  one  would  expect  ostentation  in  the  domestic 
life  of  Mr.  Budgett ;  while  plentifulness  was  every- 
where, plainness  and  economy  were  its  meet  com- 
panions. Fond  of  having  numerous  visitors — some- 
times making  a  descent  upon  a  group  of  friends, 
and  by  his  own  irresistible  determination  carrying 
them  off,  yea  or  nay,  to  Kingswood  Hill — he  yet 
never  desired  to  get  a  name  for  entertainments. 
I  have  heard  many  speak  of  heart  and  warmth,  of 
domestic  order,  of  prayer  and  praise,  of  active  piety, 
and  endless  good-doing  f  but  in  looking  back  upon 
all  who  have  talked  about  that  home,  I  do  not  re- 


348  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

member  one  who  commemorated  the  champagne  or 
the  brilliant  soirees.  He  was  far  more  at  home  in 
giving  the  Sunday-school  children  a  treat,  or  regal- 
ing the  young  women  with  tea  and  strawberries, 
than  in  seeing  a  number  of  fine  ladies  and  gentle- 
men lounge  and  prattle.  Many  horses  as  he  gave 
away,  he  never  drove  a  pair,  because  he  thought  it 
would  be  too  much  display.  Much  as  he  loved 
beauty  and  rural  scenes,  he  did  not  buy  a  mansion 
in  some  of  the  enchanting  localities  within  a  drive 
of  Bristol ;  but  tried,  in  the  act  of  feeding  the  la- 
bourers of  the  place,  to  make  Kingswood  beautiful. 
Temperance  in  all  things,  without  extremes,  either 
in  house,  dress,  or  both,  was  his  taste ;  and  tem- 
perance in  all  these  he  impressed  on  his  domestic 
circle.  It  would  have  been  easy  for  him  to  have 
had  nothing  to  spare  when  the  poor  called  ;  but  he 
chose  rather  to  have  nothing  to  spare  when  extrava- 
gant luxuries  called.  His  style  was  far  below  that 
assumed  by  many  merchants  of  half  his  means,  yet 
without  any  prim  fashion  of  peculiarity. 

Among  the  mercantile  class,  luxury  is  a  devour- 
ing evil;  it  swallows  down  the  virtues  wholesale. 
For  their  means  they  are  far  more  addicted  to  it 
than  the  "  higher  classes :"  their  houses  are  en- 
larged and  decorated  with  the  most  pretentious 
rivalry  one  of  the  other,  their  tables  testify  against 
all  moderation  (eschewing  of  course  drunkenness), 
they  make  haste  to  march  to  the  music  of  carriage 
wheels,  to  feast  their  eyes  «n  plush  and  livery  but- 
tons.    The  rage  to  make  vast  fortunes  arises  as 


IN    THE   FAMILY.  349 

much  from  the  rage  for  display  as  from  the  cold 
desire  to  accumulate ;  and  style  is  pushed  up  to 
such  a  height  that  soon  a  man  must  have  an 
immense  revenue  to  keep  pace  even  with  the  lower 
circles  of  respectable  life.  This  is  all  bad,  comes 
of  badness,  and  leads  to  badness.  Yet,  alas,  the 
men  we  call  by  emphasis  "good"  do  little  as  a 
class  to  cure  it!  the  religions  merchant  or  manu- 
facturer of  wealth  is  generally  a  very  splendid 
gentleman.  Even  men  whose  personal  carriage, 
whose  heart,  life,  and  likings  are  meek  and  lowly, 
allow  their  establishments  to  slide  up  into  the 
splendours.  This  habit  is  enervating  our  youths, 
rendering  family  happiness  dependent  on  super- 
fluities, straining  health  and  principle  in  a  race 
for  dashing  style,  setting  up  splendour  on  the 
legitimate  throne  of  moderation,  and  icing  over 
domestic  piety  with  candied  incrustations.  Unless 
it  is  put  down,  where  are  we  to  look  for  a  race  of 
men  who  can  do  without  a  dinner  now  and  then 
for  a  work  of  charity,  or  spend  years  in  frugal 
habitudes  and  benevolent  hardship?  The  homes 
of  the  comfortable  classes  are  morally  unfavoura- 
ble to  the  formation  of  self-denying,  heroic  men. 
Among  the  poor,  early  hardship  fits  for  subsequent 
privation.  Among  the  older  families,  ancestral  tra- 
ditions, military  or  naval  associates,  early  familiarity 
with  historic  enterprise,  tend  to  make  a  youth  spurn 
dependence  on  the  indulgences  that  surround  him. 
The  one  class  gives  us  hardy  soldiers,  the  other 
heroic  officers ;  but  the  comfortable  class  have  nei- 


350  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

ther  hardship  nor  family  tradition  to  kindle  hero- 
ism in  their  youth,  and  the  whole  course  of  their 
modern  progress  is  towards  a  generation  of  creatures 
dependent  upon  every  sort  of  luxury,  and  energetic 
only  to  win  the  gold  which  will  buy  it.  The  con- 
tinuance of  peace,  removing  from  our  eyes  the  ex- 
amples of  self-devotion  which  war,  detestable  as  it 
is,  constantly  presents*  renders  it  all  the  more  in- 
cumbent on  us  to  protest  against  habits  which 
would  turn  this  hardy  northern  island  into  a  nursery 
of  soft  gentlemen  who  will  whine  and  mope  if  they 
have  only  a  warm  house,  with  a  fire,  a  loaf,  a  joint, 
and  a  cup  of  tea. 

The  outcrying  extravagance  and  luxury  of  the 
day  needs  a  most  masterful  hand  laid  upon  it; 
statesmen  should  smite  it,  authors  and  journalists 
should  set  the  pen  irpon  it,  parents  should  make  it 
a  fireside  laughingstock,  religious  men  should  walk 
over  it,  and  preachers  should  burn  it  with  living 
coals  of  eloquence.  It  does  one's  heart  good  to  see 
the  "  Edinburgh  Review,"  in  an  article  replete  with 
sense  and  vigour,  pointing  to  a  reduction  of  the 
prevalent  extravagance  as  the  wise,  safe,  short  path 
to  universal  plenty.  "  If,"  says  the  judicious  writer, 
"the  English  people  could  all  at  once  be  induced  to 
lay  aside  their  luxurious,  wasteful,  and  showy  mode 
of  life,  and  adopt  the  frugality  and  temperance  of 
the  Spaniards,  the  simple  habits  of  the  Tyrolese,  and 
the  unostentatious  hospitality  of  the  Syrians,  how 
few  among  us  would  not  find  a  superfluity  at  their 
disposal  ?      We  rejoice  to  believe   that  this    more 


IN  THE  FAMILY.  351 

rational  and  homely  spirit  is  spreading  among  us, 
especially  in  detached  localities,  and  we  do  not  think 
that  a  (jood  citizen  could  render  any  more  valu- 
able service  to  his  country  than  in  promoting  it  by 
argument  and  example  wherever  his  influence  ex- 
tends," 


352  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
THE     INNER     LIFE. 

Truth  is  not  local ;  God  alike  pervades 

And  fills  the  world  of  traffic  and  the  shades, 

And  may  he  fear'd  amid  the  busiest  scenes, 

Or  seorn'd  where  business  never  intervenes. — Cowpek. 

There  is  a  life  the  world  sees,  a  life  the  neighbour- 
hood sees,  a  life  the  family  sees,  a  life  God  sees. 
These  are  often  strangely  inconsistent.  It  is  pitiable 
when  each  succeeding  enclosure  you  pass  to  reach 
the  man,  introduces  you  to  diminishing  charms  and 
growing  blemishes.  With  Samuel  Budgett  it  was 
not  so :  the  merchant  who  only  knew  him  as  the 
unparalleled  "  buyer,"  the  stranger  who  only  heard  of 
him  from  some  men  of  business  in  Bristol,  and  many 
who  saw  but  his  outermost  character,  had  no  re- 
markable impression  of  his  worth.  But  those  who 
kneiu  his  works  in  his  neighbourhood,  beheld  won- 
dering; those  who  knew  his  home  had  a  profound 
love  of  the  man ;  those  who  knew  his  closet  and 
his  heart  looked  upon  him  with  feelings  which  few 
men  raise  in  the  breasts  of  others. 

"When  his  opening  mind  first  cried  for  food,  a 
mother  was  there  who  wisely  gave  it  the  knowledge 
of  one  great,  holy  God,  and  added  in  daily  teaching 
the  knowledge  of  all  truths  essential  to  the  soul. 
Not  only  did  she  feed  his  mind  with  this  living 
bread,  but  she  moved  its  powers  to  come  forth,  to 


THE  INNER   LIFE.  353 

stretch  upwards  and  meet  its  God;  she  did  not 
teach  the  lips  alone  to  mutter  praying  words  whore 
meaning  was  not ;  but  bending  over  the  earth-prone 
infant  mind,  well  knowing  that  it  could  rise,  yet 
would  if  left  alone  grovel,  his  mother's  soul,  stirring, 
lifting  his  growing  soul,  urged  him  up  towards  the 
mercy-seat. 

This  was  the  first  influence  on  Samuel  Budgett's 
inner  life, — a  firm  conviction  of  Christian  truths,  a 
bent  towards  prayer.  Then  he  had  before  his  eyes 
beings  whose  whole  lives  were  adjusted  on  the  prin- 
ciple that  they  were  travelling  to  a  better  country. 
The  sono-s  he  heard  in  his  father's  house  were  the 
songs  of  that  shining  land.  The  genius  of  Charles 
Wesley,  was,  to  his  infancy,  a  lark  at  morn,  music- 
ally inviting  his  eye  towards  heaven ;  a  nightingale 
at  eventide,  pouring  upon  the  shades  of  life  melody 
from  the  invisible.  The  necessities  he  heard  spoken 
of  as  most  pressing,  were  necessities  of  the  inner 
man ;  the  treasure  he  heard  extolled  as  the  one  pearl 
of  price,  was  a  heart-held  gift  of  God.  He  had 
ever  something  to  remind  him  that  man  does  not 
live  by  bread  alone,  but  that  there  is  a  life  which 
moulds  the  life  of  sense  to  happiness  or  vanity. 

Then  came  the  notable  hour  when,  passing  his 
mother's  door,  he  heard  her  making  supplication 
for  her  Samuel.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  his  soul 
consciously  cried  out  within  him,  as  a  living  thing 
which  felt  itself  poor,  hungry,  and  nigh  to  perishing, 
— another  voice  had,  this  time,  spoken  through  his 
mother's.     The  prodigal's  feeling  when  he  came  to 

23 


354  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

himself  is  the  first  feeling  of  all  souls  when  they 
first  awake, — "  I  perish  ;"  the  prodigal's  hope  is  the 
hope  of  all  souls  when  awake, — "I  will  arise,  and 
go  to  my  father."  That  little  boy,  in  struggling 
thoughts  and  prayers,  endeavoured  to  find  God ;  the 
efforts  of  his  mother  to  lift  his  soul  up  had  not  been 
vain, — now  that  it  was  awake  it  knew  where  to  fly. 
Then  came  the  happy  death  of  Betty  Coles,  and  the 
walkingin  fields  on  summer  evenings,  repeatinghymns 
on  death  and  heaven.  Then,  the  ride  by  Mells  Park, 
when  his  mother  lay,  as  he  feared,  dying ;  and  where 
he  whose  soul  had  first  been  urged  heavenward  on 
the  wings  of  her  soul,  now  rose  upon  his  own  wing, 
bearing  her,  stricken  as  she  was,  and  struggled  up- 
ward with  his  burden,  till  he  surmounted  the  clouds, 
and  beheld  the  sun  so  clearly  that  his  heart  sang. 
Henceforward  he  felt  the  joy  of  the  divine  life. 
Then  came  years  at  school,  and  early  trading,  fol- 
lowed by  years  of  apprenticeship,  throughout  all 
which  the  inner  life  appears  to  have  been  vigorous. 
His  thirst  for  the  means  of  grace  was  strong  and 
steady ;  his  Bible  was  beloved  ;  his  Sabbath  was  a 
day  of  eager  hearing,  eager  reading,  eager  medita- 
ting, and  eventually  a  day  of  ardent  teaching  and 
visiting ;  his  hymn-book  was  passing  almost  entire 
into  his  memory ;  and  his  path  of  filial  duty  was 
trodden  with  self-forgetting  constancy.  Inside  all 
this  was  a  warm  delight  in  God — a  gratitude,  a 
love,  a  filial  fear.  In  spiritual  tranquillity,  in  calm, 
steadfast  happiness  of  soul,  these  early  years  excelled 
the  years  that  followed ;  they  were  the  most  uni- 


THE   INNER   LIFE.  355 

formly  bright  period  of  Mr.  Budgett's  inward  life. 
It  would  seem  that  throughout  those  days  of  hard 
circumstances,  he  had  faithfully  walked  with  God 
and  had  enjoyed  abounding  consolation.  What 
was  that  then,  which,  beginning  as  he  prayed  by 
the  park  at  Wells,  gave  him  happiness  and  virtue 
throughout  all  boyhood  and  early  youth  ?  Mark 
the  two  things, — hajyriness  and  virtue,  the  two  best 
and  purest  blessings, — in  fact,  the  collective  expres- 
sions of  all  blessings  possible;  what  was  it  which 
gave  him  a  happiness  much  trouble  could  not  mar ; 
a  virtue  youthful  temptation  could  not  shake  ?  It 
was  the  Comforter — the  Spirit  of  adoption,  which, 
entering  the  heart  of  the  happy  men  who  return 
from  sin  to  Christ,  "  beareth  witness  wTith  our  spirit 
that  we  are  the  children  of  God."  Our  race  is  a 
race  of  prodigals,  far  wandered  from  the  Father's 
house,  beside  themselves  and  living  sinfully  ;  but  O, 
many  have  come  to  themselves,  have  returned  to  the 
Father,  and  have  been  received  with  pardon,  with 
tender  utterances  and  wealthy  gifts.  But  you  do 
not  believe  that  when  God  receives  back  the  prodi- 
gal son  be  utters  any  word  of  Avelcome  which  will 
assure  and  rejoice  the  self-reproaching  heart ;  you 
say  it  is  impossible  that  the  soul  can  be  told,  "  Thy 
sins  are  forgiven  thee."  What  parent  in  the  uni- 
verse is  without  the  power  of  giving  recovered  off- 
spring a  glad  welcome  ?  Even  the  hen  can  thrill 
her  lost,  when  found,  with  notes  of  delight ;  and  is 
the  only  parent  who  cannot  tell  his  love  and  joy 
into  the  breast  of  his  "  lost  one,  who  is  found  again," 


356  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

the  Father  of  all  souls,  the  source  of  all  light  and 
speech  ?  Nay,  nay  ;  God  has  a  way  into  the  soul 
of  man  as  well  as  you,  as  direct  at  least,  and  as 
effectual.  God  has  a  voice  as  well  as  you,  and 
spirit  can  speak  to  spirit,  as  well  as  lips  of  earth 
speak  condemnation,  warning,  or  approval.  When  he 
adopts  a  man,  forgiving  him  the  sins  that  are  past, 
he  has  a  wondrous  thing  to  tell  him,  which  no 
earthly  eye  has  seen,  no  ear  has  heard,  and  there- 
fore no  tongue  can  tell ;  and  that  it  may  be  told — 
clearly  told,  he  sends  forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into 
the  man's  heart  crying,  Abba,  Father.  It  is  told : 
the  soul  knows  that  it  has  passed  from  death  to  life, 
knows  its  adoption,  knows  the  thing  which  eye  hath 
not  seen  or  ear  heard  but  which  God  has  revealed 
unto  it  by  his  Spirit,  knows  itself  a  child,  and  if  a 
child,  then  an  heir : — this  is  the  consolation.  With 
this  consolation  comes  a  love,  which  renders  obe- 
dience pleasing  and  disobedience  hateful.  It  is  not 
by  convincing  the  judgment  that  cheerfulness  is 
better  than  repining,  virtue  better  than  sin,  that 
God  makes  men  really  happy  and  really  virtuous ; 
but  by  moving  the  affections  as  a  Father,  and  win- 
ning our  love  by  displaying  his  love  to  the  eyesight 
of  the  soul. 

But  his  letters  written  in  the  years  succeeding  the 
expiration  of  his  apprenticeship,  and  the  detached 
notes  still  left  to  us,  indicate  clearly  a  state  of  soul 
in  which  the  same  calm  faith  no  longer  reigns. 
There  is  not  only  self-abasement,  but  disquiet — a 
soul  not  happy,  not  feeling  the  joy  of  pardon,  not 


THE   INNER   LIFE.  057 

trustingly  stayed  upon  the  cross.  He  is  plainly  con- 
scious of  great  unfaithfulness  ;  not  an  unfaithfulness 
which  has  laid  him  low  in  humiliation  only,  hut 
which  has  robbed  him  of  his  peace  ;  not  an  unfaith- 
fulness which  has  driven  him  to  the  great  Mediator 
with  a  more  piercing  sense  of  his  innate  sin  and  a 
more  fixed  hold  of  Christ's  infinite  merit,  but  which 
has  withered  his  hand  that  he  cannot  lay  hold  on 
the  hope  set  before  him  in  the  gospel.  These  were 
cloudy  days ;  but  whence  the  cloud  came  I  have 
not  the  means  of  saying. 

But  he  was  not  the  man  to  coin  a  spurious  com- 
fort, when  the  genuine  impress  of  God's  approval 
was  withdrawn — to  burnish  a  base  metal  till  it 
would  glitter  as  if  gold ;  he  was  rather  one  to  test 
the  true  with  aqua-fortis  scrutiny,  till  under  the  test 
its  brightness  was  hidden  though  its  substance  was 
unhurt.  Such  was  his  habit  constantly ;  and  of 
that  self-distrusting,  self-depreciating  habit  full  ac- 
count must  be  taken  in  estimating  his  spiritual 
state.  Yet  with  this  in  view,  it  is  evident  that  the 
want  of  peace  which  marked  his  earlier  years  of 
manhood,  contrasting  with  the  habitual  brightness 
of  youth,  is  not  assignable  purely  to  such  a  cause, 
but  began  with  un watchfulness,  and  some  clear, 
specific  transgression.  Some  religious  men  are 
always  joyful,  though  never  watchful ;  their  joy  is 
not  worth  a  butterfly. 

His  copious  journals  are  gone,  burned  up  by  his 
own  hand,  and  we  are  not  disposed  to  blame  any 
man  for  that.     Now,  a  few  stray  fragments  of  notes. 


358  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

scattered,  unfinished,  abrupt,  disconnected — merely 
the  faint  trace  of  an  occasional  footmark — is  all  that 
has  survived.  One  note  is  dated  January  1,  1822, 
shortly  after  his  entrance  on  partnership  and  his 
marriage,  when  all  outward  things  were  joyous. 
Yet  he  thus  writes : — 

"  Tuesday  evening,  January  1,  1822. — My  soul 
is  greatly  oppressed  because  of  sin.  I  shall  never 
be  happy  till  I  find  a  Saviour  from  the  love,  the 
power,  the  guilt,  and  the  sad  effects  of  sin  as  it 
respects  future  punishment.  I  believe  such  a 
Saviour  is  provided,  but  he  is  not  my  Saviour, — 1 
do  not  know  him,  he  has  not  saved  me  from  my 
sins ;  but  I  am  resolved  to  try  if  I  cannot  find  him, 
so  then  I  will  seek  him  first  and  oftenest  and  with 
the  most  diligence,  for  I  am  in  danger  till  I  do  find 
him.  O,  when  shall  I  find  him !  how  long  shall  I 
seek  him !  Lord,  grant  that  I  may  never  rest  till  I 
feel  he  is  formed  in  my  heart  the  hope  of  eternal 
glory.     Amen." 

At  the  close  of  the  week  he  adds : — 

"  Sunday,  middle  day,  January  6,  1822. — The 
last  week  has  been  a  very  unprofitable  one.  I  see 
great  propriety  in  what  Thorn  as-a-Kempis  says,  'The 
beginning  of  temptation  is  inconstancy  of  mind,  and 
little  faith.' 

"I  have  been  suffering  all  the  last  week  from 
want  of  resisting  temptation  in  the  beginning  :  I  am 
now  very  low.  But  I  will  arise  again.  I  have  be- 
fore me  'Hervey's  Meditations,'  'Baxter's  Saint's 
Rest,'  and  the  Sacred  Volume.     1  have  just  taken  a 


THE   INNER  LIFE.  359 

slight  view  of  the  loss  I  sustained  by  spending  my 
time  as  I  have  done  in  the  past  week.  As  this  is 
the  first  Sabbath  in  the  year,  may  I  now  begin  to 
redeem  time — to  form  an  acquaintance  with  my 
Bible,  &c,  &c.  O,  what  pleasures,  what  privileges, 
depend  on  the  improvement  of  precious  time ! 
May  I — yea,  I  feel  resolved  to — give  no  moment 
but  in  purchase  of  its  worth.  May  the  Lord  give 
me  strength,  and  teach  me  what  its  worth  is." 

Towai-ds  the  end  of  the  month  he  makes  this 
note : — 

"Thursday  evening,  January  24,  1S22. — I  this 
morning  returned  from  Midsomer  Norton.  In  my 
way  I  indulged  a  few  reflections,  and  endeavoured 
to  form  a  few  resolutions  : — 

"  1st,  I  am  a  guilty,  and  consequently  an  unhappy 
creature. 

"  2d,  The  darkness  of  my  mind  prevents  me  see- 
ing its  awful  state. 

"  3d,  As  my  mind  is  darkened  by  sin  I  cannot  see 
what  is  my  duty,  or  what  are  my  privileges. 

"  4th,  I  have  not  power  to  perform  even  what  I 
know  to  be  my  duty. 

"  5th,  The  longer  I  continue  in  this  state  the 
worse  I  shall  be,  till  my  eternal  ruin  be  accom- 
plished. 

"  Resolved — 

"  1st,  To  seek  a  deeper  sense  and  a  clearer  dis- 
covery of  my  awful  state  through  sin. 

"  2d,  To  seek  to  get  a  satisfactory  evidence  that 
I  am  accepted  through  Christ. 


360  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

"  3d,  To  make  the  service  of  God,  and  obedience 
to  the  dictates  of  his  Spirit  the  supreme  object  of  my 
life. 

"  4  th,  To  begin  to  redeem  time,  and  to  be  more 
moderate  in  my  eating,  drinking,  and  sleeping,  and 
to  endeavour  to  make  one  word  pass  for  two,  in 
order  that  my  soul  may  grow  in  grace  and  be 
happy  ;  and  all  this  would  I  do  in  humble  de- 
pendence on  the  continual  assistance  of  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

"And  5  th,  To  read  every  day  a  chapter  or  two 
of  Scripture  according  to  the  resolution  made  Janu- 
ary 1st,  1822." 

The  first  sign  of  recovered  joy  comes  nearly  two 
years  subsequent  to  the  date  of  the  above  notes ; 
when  looking  back  on  the  Christmas  week  he  says, 
"I  am  pleased  on  reviewing  it  as  one  of  the  most 
profitable  weeks  spent  on  this  earth." 

Everything  we  can  gather  betokens  an  earnest 
struggle  after  a  life  disciplined  to  obey  accurately 
strict  intentions  as  to  inward  motive  and  outward 
action.  His  views  of  a  call  to  be  a  child  of  light 
were  very  clear;  and  setting  that  beauty  of  holi- 
ness whereto  he  felt  called  beside  the  poor  attain- 
ments which  alone  he  would  recognise  in  his  char- 
acter, his  heart  sank  abashed.  ■  With  lower  views 
of  the  Christian  calling  he  would  have  beheld  his 
own  life  without  strong  condemnation;  but,  in  that 
case,  the  evils  he  now  deplored  wouli  have  grown, 
the  graces  he  longed  for  would  have  been  neglected, 
and  his  character  would  have  gradually  deteriorated 


THE  INNER  LIFE.  361 

till  he  was  either  a  hollow  professor  of  religion,  or 
a  full-blown  man  of  the  world.  Prosperity  was 
setting  in  strongly ;  his  natural  disposition  urged 
him  to  absorbing  efforts  in  trade,  and  here  was  his 
danger.  In  the  heat  of  driving  his  plans,  he  was 
constantly  liable  to  be  overcome ;  and  doubtless 
many  of  his  self-reproaches  were  founded  on  real 
short-comings.  He  had  not  grace  sufficient  to  be 
"  more  than  conqueror ;"  he  was  often  vanquished 
by  the  impulses  of  nature,  aided  by  abetting  cir- 
cumstances ;  but  he  had  grace  sufficient  for  this — 
that  he  would  not  overlook,  would  not  excuse  his 
fault,  would  search  it  out,  confess  it  to  God,  ay,  and 
confess  it  to  man,  abhor  himself  on  account  thereof, 
and  go  in  penitent  supplication  to  a  Father  for  par- 
don. The  highest  effect  of  grace  undoubtedly  is  to 
keep  us  unspotted ;  but  the  next  is  to  lead  us  to 
quick,  deep  repentance  when  we  have  contracted  a 
stain.  About  his  notes  there  is  more  self-examina- 
tion and  self-discipline,  than  self-forgetting  regard 
of  Christ  and  of  God.  One  clear  sight  of  Christ's 
redeeming  glory,  does  more  to  disengage  our  feel- 
ings from  entanglement,  and  to  attract  them  to 
him,  than  ten  thousand  dissatisfied  verdicts  upon 
.their  actual  condition.  Self-condemnation  is  just ; 
it  is  invaluable  so  far  as  it  undoes  all  self-trust  and 
self-glorying :  but  if  it  fixes  the  eye  upon  self  so 
much  as  to  hinder  the  occupation  of  the  thoughts 
by  Him  that  is  greater  than  we,  it  then  becomes  an- 
other form  of  self-importance,  another  feint  of  self- 
righteousness.     And  you  will  never  destroy  self  by 


362  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

scolding  it — so  long  as  you  are  chiefly  occupied 
about  it,  however  occupied,  it  will  survive ;  it  dies 
only  when  the  soul,  viewing  the  wondrous  God  be- 
come a  father,  a  friend,  and  a  bosom  helper,  is  ab- 
sorbed in  the  Saviour  it  has  found — loving,  rejoicing, 
beholding,  and  imitating,  till  the  old  man  disap- 
pears— the  whole  character  putting  on  the  attri- 
butes we  adore.  But  better  far  be  ever  scrutinizing 
and  ever  self-condemning,  than  make  the  rich  mer- 
cies of  the  Godhead  a  reason  for  permitting  an  ill- 
ordered  heart,  and  a  vacillating  holiness. 

O !  ye  men  of  business,  how  many  of  you  prac- 
tise Mr.  Budgett's  habit  of  self-examination  ?  You 
go  through  a  thousand  transactions  in  a  week ;  do 
you  sift  your  heart  at  the  end  ?  You  store  up  your 
gold ;  do  you  test  it  lest  a  plague  should  be  in  it  ? 
You  "  have  no  time."  Madness  and  blasphemy ! — 
no  time  to  lcok  to  your  salvation,  and  to  see  whether 
you  are  serving  God !  Mr.  Budgett  had  quite  as 
much  on  hands  as  you.  Here  is  a  set  of  entries  in 
pencil  which  affectingly  testifies  that  the  rising  mer- 
chant knew  he  had  a  Judge  above,  and  keenly 
searched  his  thoughts,  words,  deeds,  for  offences 
against  his  law : — 

"Sunday  evening,  August  3,  1823  : — 

"  1.  I  am  conscious  I  have  thought  of  myself 
more  highly  than  I  ought  to  think. 

"  2.  I  have  sacrificed  to  my  own  net  and  burned 
incense  to  my  own  drag. 

"  3.  I  have  ascribed  my  success  in  my  under- 
takings to  my  own  wisdom. 


THE  INNER  LIFE.  363 

"4.  I  have  boasted  of  what  I  have  received  as 
if  I  had  not  received  it. 

"5.  I  have  gloried  in  very  many  things  save  the 
cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

"  6.  I  have  desired  the  praise  of  men  and  taken 
pleasure  in  it. 

"  V.  I  have  repeatedly  given  way  to  foolish  de- 
sires. 

"  8.  I  have  often  and  repeatedly  given  way  to  in- 
ordinate affection. 

"  9.  I  have  indulged  spiritual  and  bodily  sloth. 

"10.  I  have  often  allowed  myself  to  speak,  if  not 
lies,  yet  what  was  not  in  the  strict  sense  truth  in 
the  love  thereof. 

"11.  I  have  practised  in  my  dealings  arts  which 
would  not  bear  strict  scrutiny. 

"12.  I  have  not  laboured  to  do  whatsoever  I  did 
to  the  glory  of  God. 

"13.  I  have  indulged  my  bodily  appetites." 

Mr.  Carvosso  strongly  describes  his  confessions  of 
unfaithfulness — not  the  cold,  mechanical  indication 
of  avowals  the  heart  ought  to  make  but  does  not, 
but  piercing  utterances  of  heart-pain.  Openly  in 
the  class-meeting  or  love-feast,  with  many  of  his 
own  men  present,  he  would  speak  with  flowing 
tears,  as  if  his  soul  within  him  worshipped  and  fell 
down  and  kneeled,  yea,  lay  prostrate  with  awe  and 
contrition  in  the  presence  of  the  infinite  love  and 
holiness,  while  he  abhorred  his  own  short-comings. 
At  the  prayer-meeting  too,  he  loved  to  fill  his  place, 
and  far  was  he  from  carrying  before  the  mercy-seat 


364  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

the  familiar  tones,  and  the  manner  habitual  to  busi- 
ness scenes :  no,  he  was  not  before  men  now ;  ami 
in  that  glorious  presence  where  he  knelt,  all  his 
business  bearing  departed,  his  thoughts  sought  a 
depth  below  the  dust  wherein  to  bow,  his  tones 
thrilled  with  humiliation,  and  his  tears  ran  plenti- 
fully. He  cannot  be  set  before  mature  Christians 
as  an  example  of  constantly  bright,  placid  faith, 
u  always  confident,  and  willing  rather  to  be  absent 
from  the  body  and  to  be  present  with  the  Lord  ;" 
but  the  man  of  business,  struggling  with  the  tempta- 
tions of  trade  and  impelled  by  a  nature  eager  for 
commercial  progress,  may  profitably  fix  his  eye  upon 
him  and  see  one  situated  like  himself,  scrutinizing 
his  transactions  as  before  the  Judge,  and  when  he 
finds  his  heart  too  much  engrossed  with  earthly 
things,  making  haste  to  seek  renewed  grace  with 
prayer  and  tears.  And  this,  remember,  not  when 
all  the  fruits  you  could  trace  of  his  religion  were  to 
be  found  in  his  attendance  at  class,  at  prayer-meet- 
ing, at  public  worship,  and  the  Lord's  holy  table, 
with  the  home  solemnity  of  family  prayer;  but 
when  his  services  to  God  and  man  were  astonish- 
ing those  who  were  familiar  with  common-place 
piety. 

But  though  his  prevalent  tone  was  depressed,  he 
did  ever  and  anon  taste  his  Father's  love  till  his 
whole  soul  bounded  with  joyous  energies.  When 
so  refreshed  he  did  not  allow  his  comforts  to  expend 
themselves  in  emotion,  but  used  them  as  strength 
fir  works  of  special  difficulty.  '  On  one  occasion  he 


THE  INNER  LIFE.  3G5 

visited  his  friend  Mr.  Wood,  at  Truro,  and  then  his 
soul  was  bewailing  its  unfaithfulness  in  much  de- 
pression. The  night  before  parting,  the  two  friends 
were  long  engaged  in  prayer ;  the  cloud  broke  away 
from  Mr.  Budgett's  soul,  joy  unspeakable  and  full 
of  glory  entered  into  his  heart.  While  waiting  the 
next  day  at  Hayle  for  the  Bristol  steamer,  his  eye 
was  attracted  by  a  house  in  which  he  detected  signs 
of  suspicious  though  numerous  company.  On  in- 
quiry he  found  it  was  the  dwelling  of  an  unhappy 
man  who  once  had  seemed  to  "run  well,"  but  had 
sorely  fallen,  and  that  a  loose  party  were  meeting 
for  dancing  and  debauch.  He  at  once  made  for  the 
house ;  would  see  the  master ;  kindly,  but  firmly 
talked  with  him  till,  wicked  as  he  was,  he  consented 
to  let  his  strange,  gentle,  but  resistless  visitor  go  up 
stairs.  As  they  ascended  abundant  tokens  of  wrath 
were  uttered,  for  the  conversation  had  been  over- 
heard :  a  candlestick  was  flung  at  Mr.  Budgett's 
head.  The  man  begged  him  to  come  back  and 
himself  shrank  away  ;  but  no,  he  would  warn  these 
poor  revellers.  In  he  went,  begged  them  not  to  be 
disturbed,  just  to  go  on  as  if  he  were  not  there, 
said  they  were  trying  to  enjoy  themselves,  and  that 
was  what  he  always  wished  to  do,  and  so  spoke 
familiarly  and  kindly,  till  he  had  their  attention. 
Then  he  began  to  reason  with  them  "  on  righteous- 
ness, temperance,  and  judgment  to  come :"  one  by 
one  their  air  and  words  of  scoffing  fell,  some  were 
soon  in  tears,  the  fiddle  ceased  to  play,  and  ere  he 
left  he  had  led  that  wild  company  to  bow  before 


366  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

the  great  God  in  prayer,  while  tears,  and  sobs,  and 
signs  of  shame  told  that  the  heart  within  was 
melted.     The  dance  was  ended  for  that  night. 

On  the  steamer  he  found  a  gentleman  who 
seemed  ill  and  lonely  :  he  addressed  him  with  that 
kind  perseverance  whereby,  in  a  way  peculiar  to 
himself,  he  would  enter  into  any  mind  he  wished  to 
enter ;  and  finding  him  averse  to  all  religious  things, 
he  spoke  to  him  in  solemn  warning,  blended  with 
the  glorious  invitations  of  the  gospel.  The  stranger 
was  not  easily  won — they  parted ;  but  during  the 
night  Mr.  Budgett  was  called  to  the  other's  couch : 
he  was  ill ;  he  was  dying  ;  and  he  touchingiy  owned 
the  kindness  of  his  new  friend,  opened  his  heart, 
told  him  his  tale — a  dark  and  sad  one, — told  him 
his  name,  which  he  had  not  borne  in  travelling, 
committed  his  watch  and  other  commissions  to  his 
hand,  and  died. ' 

It  is  often  said  that  to  know  a  person  you  must 
see  him  at  home.  There  is  truth  in  that ;  but  it 
may  also  be  said  that  to  know  a  person  you  must 
see  him  on  a  journey.  Many  who  are  strict  and 
exemplary  at  home,  put  on  a  loose  religious  dress 
when  they  travel*  Mr.  Budgett  did  not  think  it 
desirable  ''just  once  in  a  way,"  to  visit  the  opera 
when  he  came  to  town  ;  or  to  take  his  children  to 

Q  I,  at  one  time,  thought  of  devoting  a  chapter  to  Mr.  Bud- 
gett "on  the  road  "—referring  especially  to  commercial  travcl- 
ling-wlth  its  temptations;  but  my  materials  were  not  sufficient 
to  compensate  for  the  lack  of  practical  knowledge  :  perhaps 
it  may  be  touched  at  some  other  time. 


THE  INNER  LIFE.  ^0*7 

a  theatre  that  they  might  "just  see  and  judge  for 
themselves."     He  did  not,  when  at  a  strange  hotel, 
where  "  no  one  knew  him  and  the  example  would 
do  no  harm,"  stroll  into  the  billiard  room  and  try  a 
game   "  merely  for  exercise."     He  did  not,   at  a 
watering-place,  look  round  for  the  fashionable  con- 
gregation, and  shun  his  own  people  if  they  were 
poor  and  few.     He  did  not  say  he  was  "  come  out 
to  enjoy  himself,"   and  therefore  would   take  no 
pains  to  do  good.    The*religion  he  valued  at  home, 
he  valued  on  the  road;    as  in  Kingswood,  so  in 
Wales,  Cornwall,  or  elsewhere  he  was  ever  on  the 
watch  for  objects  of  charity,  for  occasions  to  say  a 
word  to  men  about  the  Redeemer  he  loved.     He 
always  carried  a  plentiful  store  of  books  and  tracts 
which  he  distributed.     If  he  knew  of  a  prayer- 
meeting  or  week-evening  preaching  in  a  town  where 
he  chanced  to  be,  he  would  haste  away,  and  if  called 
upon  would  himself  preach,  though  from  that  effort 
his  sinking  heart  always  inclined  to  retire.    A  close 
companion  in  journeys  and  at  home  has  told  me 
pleasing  tales  of  his  wayside  good-doing. 

We  have  already  seen  what  impression  was  made 
upon  a  Christian  friend  by  the  manner  in  which 
Mr.  Budgett  bowed  to  the  dispensation  which  called 
away  his  lovely  son  Edwin.  In  the  following  note 
to  his  sister-in-law  we  see  proof  of  the  justice  of  that 
impression : — 

"  Kingswood  Hill,  July  27th,  1849. 

"My  dear  sister  P , — Fearing  that  Wil- 
liam's note  to  brother  William,  of  yesterday,  might 


308  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

have  alarmed  you,  I  write  a  few  lines  just  to  say  we 
are  all  well  and  happy  in  God.  Our  dear  Edwin 
was  prepared  and  is  now 

'  Far  from  a  world  of  grief  and  sin 
With  God  eternally  shut  in.' 

We  are  yet,  though  suffering  under  a  most  painful 
bereavement,  a  happy  family :  yes,  the  peace  of 
God  that  passeth  all  human  understanding,  does 
keep  our  hearts  and  minds«through  faith  in  Christ 
Jesus.  It  would  be  impossible  for  us  to  tell  you 
how  precious  Christ  is  to  us  in  this  time  of  severe 
trial.  We  have  this  morning  enjoyed  a  gracious 
visitation  from  our  heavenly  Father,  while  we  all, 
the  whole  family,  knelt  and  prayed  that  this 
stroke  might  be  fully  sanctified.     I  am,  my  dear 

sister  P ,  Yours  affectionately, 

"S.  B." 

Every  season  of  affliction,  personal  or  domestic, 
was  to  him  a  call,  as  if  from  the  trump  of  God, 
to  humble  himself.  He  looked  at  the  full  salva- 
tion, the  perfect  love  and  perfect  peace  whereto 
the  gospel  call  invited  him;  with  this  he  com- 
pared his  actual  graces,  and  it  seemed  to  him  as 
if  he  had  paid  too  much  attention  to  earthly 
things,  foregoing  divine  joys  for  worldly  good.  His 
soul  shook  and  mourned  exceedingly,  not  from 
fears  of  future  wrath,  but  from  a  distressing  sight 
of  his  unfaithful  service  to  the  all-blessed  Redeemer. 
The  following  letter,  written  during  an  illness,  dis- 


THE  INNER  LIFE.  ;W9 

plays  minutely  the  workings  of  his  heart  at  such  a 
time : — 

Kingswood  Hill,  November  23,  1843. 
"  My  dear  brother  James, — I  forced  my  hea- 
venly Father  to  use  the  rod,  but  I  am  astonished  to 
think  with  what  gentleness  he  has  corrected  me. 
The  first  Sunday  I  was  unwell,  I  made  a  fresh  act 
of  faith,  and  ventured  my  whole  soul  on  the  atone- 
ment. My  heart  seemed  to  have  been  broken  in  a 
thousand  pieces,  and  I  felt  disposed  to  weep  my  life 
away  for  having  grieved  my  God.  For  the  first 
week  I  held  fast  my  confidence  and  felt  calm  as  in 
the  hands  of  my  loving  Saviour,  but  on  the  second 
Sabbath  I  grew  much  worse,  so  that  I  had  but  very 
little  hope  of  recovery.  I  began  to  reason  with  the 
enemy,  and  let  go  my  shield  of  faith  ;  and  then  was 
truly  the  hour  and  power  of  darkness.  I  can  never 
describe  the  bitter  anguish  I  felt  on  reviewing  my 
past  life,  and  such  horror  and  gloom  came  over  my 
mind  at  the  thoughts  of  being  but  just  saved  as  by 
the  shin  of  my  teeth,  or  of  appearing  before  my 
Maker  as  an  unprofitable  servant,  or  perhaps  of 
being  a  wandering  spirit  cast  out  from  God  for  un- 
faithfulness to  roam  in  endless  circles  of  despair,  as 
well  nigh  turned  my  brain.  My  agony  of  mind 
was  such  that  I  thought  I  was  dying,  and  really 
fainted  away.  I  then  recovered,  and  tried  to  re- 
cover my  shield  of  faith ;  but  on  Monday  morning, 
Satan  was  again  permitted  to  buffet  me,  and  the 
conflict  was  extreme.     My  dear  sister  Elizabeth  then 

24 


370  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

came  to  my  assistance,  and  said  I  was  doing  very 
wrong — that  1  ought  to  come  to  the  Saviour  as  at 
first  I  came,  and  that  she  believed  I  should  recover, 
but  that  if  I  died  I  was  safe  for  heaven.  I  imme- 
diately took  courage  and  said,  '  Lord,  I  did  believe 
and  was  happy,  and  thou  hast  said,  "  Whosoever 
cometh,"  &c,  etc.,  I  come,  I  believe — I  will,  I 
do  believe,  <fec.'  My  heart  seemed  melted  to  tender- 
ness, and  the  name  of  Jesus  was  exceedingly  precious. 
Sister  Elizabeth  then  said,  '  Cannot  you  now  put  in 
your  claim  for  the  blessing  of  full  salvation  ?  Re- 
member the  promise,  "  I  will  circumcise  thy  heart," ' 
(Y/c,  etc.  I  said,  '  I  am  suffering  all  this  because  I 
would  not  take  the  necessary  pains  to  obtain  that 
blessing  when  that  very  promise  was  so  often  and 
powerfully  impressed  on  my  mind  ;  and  as  it  was  so 
clearly  my  duty  to  obtain,  to  enjoy,  and  to  preach 
that  great  and  glorious  gospel  privilege  to  others,  I 
could  not  hold  fast  even  a  sense  of  my  acceptance 
with  God,  or  overcome  various  temptations  to  sin, — 
and  it  is  of  the  Lord's  mercies  that  I  am  not  con- 
sumed :'  but  when  sister  Elizabeth  said,  '  Put  in 
your  claim  just  now,'  I  made  a  violent  effort  and 
said,  '  Lord,  thou  hast  said,  "  I  will  circumcise,"  &c, 
&c. :  now  fulfil  thine  own  word.  I  hang  upon  thy 
word  ;  thou  wilt  do  it.  I  dare  believe.'  I  did  not 
struggle  long  before  my  heart  seemed  deeply  hum- 
bled, filled  with  love  unutterable  to  God  and  all 
mankind.  I,  however,  could  not  entertain  an  idea 
that  God  could  spare  my  life;  and  though  I  felt 
safe  and  happy,  I  could  not  feel  willing  to  die  even 


THE    lN.NER    LIFE.  371 

to  go  to  heaven  with  such  a  consciousness  of  un- 
faithfulness up  to  the  eleventh  hour,  and  earnestly 
prayed,  '  0  spare  me  a  little  that  I  may  recover 
my  strength  before   I   go  hence  to  be  no  more 
seen.'      On  the  following  morning  my  dear  wife 
came  into  my  room  with  the  Bible  in  her  hand, 
saying,   'I  have  just  opened  upon  this  passage.' 
See  Isaiah  xlviii,  9,  10.      Never  did  Scripture  so 
■powerfully  impress  my  mind.      I  said,  'It  is  the 
word  of  God  to  me,  in  answer  to  his  servant's  pray- 
ers :   I  shall  not  die  but  live.'      From  that  time  I 
never  entertained  a  doubt  but  I  should  have  ano- 
ther opportunity  of  preaching  salvation — full  salva- 
tion by  Christ  Jesus  to  every  one  who  will  put  in 
their  claim  for  it.     My  mind  has  since  been  kept  in 
perfect  peace,  and  I  have  been  gradually  recovering. 
Now,  my  dear  brother  James,  my  object  in  being 
thus  minute  in  the  description  is,  first,  to  lead  you, 
as  you  would  avoid   the  gloom,  the   horror,   the 
anguish,  such  as  no  tongue  can  tell,  of  an  unsatis- 
factory state  of  mind  on  a  dying  bed,  or  the  more 
tremendous  consequences  of  being  hurried  out  of 
time  into  eternity ;   as  you  would  enjoy  this  life 
tenfold  more  than  you  possibly  could  without  it ;  as 
you  would  be  unspeakably  happy,  safe,  useful,  and 
rising  daily  in  refinement  and  elevation  of  character ; 
and  as  you  would  have  a  glorious  entrance  adminis- 
tered to  you  among  the  saints  in  light ;  in  a  word, 
that  as  you  would   escape  hell  and  gain  heaven 
securely,  you  at  once  give  the  Lord  your  whole 
heart,  and  accept  his  full  salvation  :   this,  my  dear 


372  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

brother,  is  much  easier  than  doing  it  by  halves.     I 
am,  my  dear  brother,  most  affectionately  yours, 

"S.  B." 

From  all  this  it  is  manifest  that  while  Mr.  Bud- 
get's piety  was  not  uniform  in  consolation,  it  was 
habitual  in  intensity.  For  the  last  few  years  of  his 
life  he  withdrew  to  a  great  extent  from  active  busi- 
ness engagements ;  and  then  in  the  library  he  dili- 
gently improved  his  leisure  by  studies  all  tending 
to  ripen  his  knowledge  of  God's  holy  word.  He 
read,  he  corresponded,  he  prayed — passing  happy 
days  of  quiet  self-culture,  varied  by  active  usefulness 
out  of  doors.  Methodical  in  everything,  he  was 
methodical  in  his  closet;  and  the  following  table 
will  indicate  how  lie  daily  mapped  out  his  hours. 
Some  of  the  scraps  of  paper  under  my  hand  are 
evidently  notes  of  duties  to  be  got  through  in  a 
certain  day ;  and  as  he  thus  arranged  beforehand 
what  he  meant  to  accomplish,  so  in  these  time  tables 
we  see  him  taking  note  of  what  he  had  actually 
done.  We  give  one  page,  the  first  of  a  year,  con- 
taining the  record  of  a  fortnight.  You  will  be  able 
to  trace  in  the  abbreviations,  Cock  Road,  the  Cate- 
chumen Class,  and  other  favourite  duties ;  the  last 
abridgment  I  cannot  explain. 


THE    INNER   LIFE. 


373 


1849. 

>• 
■~ 
< 
B 
I 
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6  . 

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IS 

ofc* 
H 

X    . 
3>  a 

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5  = 

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00    ™ 

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Or 

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a  o 

o 

at 
"m  .• 

3  £> 
.a  c 
Org 

>-5 

Memorandums, 
&c,  <Stc. 

Monday 

Tuesday  ... 
Wednesday 
Thursday.. 

Saturday  .. 

7 
6 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 

Vol. 
I. 
1 

2 

Vol. 
I. 

1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 

7 
8 
9 

10 
11 
12 
13 

5 

G 
7 
8 
9 

10 
11 

10 
11 
IS 
13 
14 
15 
16 

92 

119 
132 

134 

156 
166 
185 

4 
9 
4 
2 
4 
5 
5 
33 

( Chapel.Covenant,  Sa- 
(    crament  and  Home. 

Honie  all  day. 
Bristol, home  &Yg.Men. 

To  Mid.  Norton. 
Home  from  Norton. 
Bristol  and  home. 
Bristol  and  home. 

Monday 

Tuesday  .. . 
Wednesday 
Thursday.. 

Saturday  . . 

14 
IS 
16 

n 

18 
19 
20 

S 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 

14 
15 
16 
17 

18 
19 

20 

IS 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 

n 

18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 

94 

9G 
96 

134 
145 

190 

1 
4 
4 
1 

6 

8 
26 

(Home,  C.  Rd.,  Cat'n 
-:    Class  &  Chapel,  Mr. 
(    Carr. 
Bristol  and  Home. 

f  Bristol  &  home  &  Yg. 
(    Men's  Association. 
(  Bristol  (Oldland  Hall) 
\    home  and  Class, 
f  Ditto  &  Chapel  &  Two 
t  Committee  Meetings. 

Home. 

Home  all  day.     Mxs. 

That  grace  which  most  steadily  manifested  itself 
in  him  was  love ;  his  heart,  penetrated  with  a  sense 
of  God's  bounty  in  providence,  of  his  mercy  in  re- 
demption, was  ever  open,  ever  warm,  ever  tender, 
and  claimed  kindred  Avith  all  hearts.  Hence  his 
delight  in  promoting  the  happiness  of  others ;  hence 
the  joy  wherewith  he  devoted  to  that  end  the  pro- 
perty gained  by  his  ceaseless  exertions.  The  sum 
of  his  benevolence  can  never  be  known  :  he  did  not 
until  late  in  life  fix  on  a  proportion  of  income  as  the 
minimum  of  his  gifts ;  when  he  did,  the  proportion 


374  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

was  one-sixth.  Of  course  he  did  not  resolve  to  give 
away  only  that,  but  to  give  away  that  at  least.  Had 
he  been  doubtful  as  to  the  extent  of  his  aivinirs,  he 
would  unquestionably  have  fixed  a  proportion  ear- 
lier; but  he  knew  well  that  all  he  had  was  tithed 
and  more.  One  week  he  kept  account  of  all  he 
had  given,  it  amounted  to  sixty  pounds;  and  he 
kept  that  account  no  more,  but  that  week  was  con- 
siderably above  the  average.  A  man  with  a  heart 
restlessly  desiring  to  do  good,  may  go  on  without 
fixing  a  proportion  and  yet  certainly  bestow  a  fit 
amount  of  his  gains ;  but  they  are  few  who  would 
not  be  astounded  at  the  small  proportions  their  giv- 
ino-s  bear  to  their  income  if  thev  tested  them  for  a 
year.  Most  men  need,  for  their  own  sake,  to  fix  a 
minimum,  and  that  minimum  should  not  be  less 
than  one  tenth.  I  have  known  many  who  early  in 
•life  have  adopted  this  principle ;  and  where  it  has 
been  steadily  maintained,  a  blessing  seems  ever  to 
follow  it.  We  are  not  so  addicted  to  doing  good 
that  it  comes  upon  us  by  accident;  and  as  Cod 
bountifullv  gives,  we  should  deliberately  resolve  that 
we.  will  "honour  God  with  our  substance,  and  with 
the  first-fruits  of  our  increase/'  The  work  of  char- 
ity to  men's  souls  and  bodies,  of  gratitude  for 
God's  bounty,  is  too  sacred  to  be  left  to  chance  and 
impulse :  regular  and  calculated  reserves  should  be 
made  for  such  outlay,  if  we  would  not  live  to  our- 
selves, but  to  him  who  died  for  us  and  rose  again. 

From  the  intimate  knowledge  of  Mr.  Gaskin  we 
shall  draw  our  last  glimpses  of  his  walk  with  God : — 


THE   INNER   LIFE.  3*75 

"The  friendship  which  subsisted  between  Mr. 
Budgett  and  myself  through  so  many  years,  was 
cherished  under  circumstances  peculiarly  favourable 
for  observing  closely  action  as  springing  from  mo- 
tive, and  motive  as  aiming  at  an  end;  and  without 
the  smallest  reservation  I  must  add,  that  never  have 
I  witnessed  aught  more  consistent  and  pure  than  the 
busy  life  of  this  member  of  the  Christian  Church. 
Our  standard  of  inference  here,  must,  of  course,  be 
the  rule  prescribed  by  the  Saviour,  '  By  their  fruits 
ye  shall  know  them;'  and,  judging  from  his  entire 
deportment,  we  see  how  largely  my  relative's  heart 
must  have  been  penetrated  with  divine  grace.  Amidst 
influences  usually  accounted  unfavourable  to  such  a 
result,  how  successfully  was  the  spirituality  of  the  soul 
maintained,  and  how  beautifully  did  the  whole  tone 
of  the  outward  life  testify  to  the  principles  which 
were  cherished  within  !  The  secret  was  this, — his 
best  hours  were  spent  with  God.  When  I  was  his 
neighbour  it  was  his  custom — and  I  doubt  not  the 
habit  was  preserved  as  long  as  health  permitted — to 
be  in  his  library  bv  five  o'clock  in  the  mornma:,  for 
the  purpose  of  reading,  meditation,  and  prayer ;  and 
he  has  often,  in  conversation  with  me,  regretted  that 
he  did  not  feel  himself  physically  equal  to  an  earlier 
commencement  of  this  part  of  his  daily  occupations. 
To  those  who  could  thus  follow  Mr.  Budgett  from 
the  exercises  of  his  closet,  it  was  no  marvel  that  he 
should  be  so  securely  carried  through  the  ungenial 
atmosphere  which  hung  over  him  as  a  man  of  busi- 
ness, and  the  bustling  scenes  amidst  which  he  was 


31 6  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

called  to  act  so  large  a  part.  He  Avas  eminently  a 
man  of  his  Bible  and  a  man  of  prayer ;  while  '  dili- 
gent in  business,'  he  was  'fervent  in  spirit,  serving 
the  Lord.'  Imbued  with  such  influences  as  those 
which  Ave  have  seen  him  constantly  cultivating,  and 
guided  by  such  principles  as  those  Avhich  Ave  have 
seen  him  constantly  exhibiting,  there  Avas  nothing 
in  the  active  engagements  of  his  commercial  life 
that  could  mar  his  spirit  or  divert  his  soul  from  the 
path  in  which  he  delighted  to  Avalk." 


THE   LATTER  END.  377 


CHAPTER    X. 
THE     LATTER     END. 

By  death  and  hell  pursued  in  vain, 
To  thee  the  ransom'd  seed  shall  come  ; 

Shouting,  their  heavenly  Sion  gain, 
And  pass  through  death  triumphant  home. 

Wesley. 

Mr.  Budgett  had  now  readied  a  point  when  earth 
might  well  seem  a  pleasant  home.  He  was  pros- 
pering amazingly,  with  the  certainty  (as  men  would 
say)  of  yearly  prospering  more;  his  family  were 
grown  up  and  their  prospects  smiling ;  the  preju- 
dices which  bad  hung  round  his  sudden  rise  were 
disappearing;  respect,  attention,  love  were  coming 
thick  upon  him ;  wider  and  higher  circles  were 
doing  homage  to  his  excellence ;  abundant  leisure 
for  mental  feasts  and  benevolent  labours  was  at 
his  command;  and,  only  fifty-six,  he  mighffyet  for 
years  rejoice  amid  the  fruits  of  his  toil :  so  that 
one,  looking  at  him  about  the  fall  of  1850,  might 
have  said,  "  If  Samuel  Budgett  is  not  to  be  envied, 
who  is  ?" 

It  was  about  the  November  of  that  year,  when 
walking  up  a  hill  in  Bristol,  that  he  complained 
of  a  difficulty  of  breathing.  Then,  ascending  stairs 
became  a  weariness ;  a  new  weight  hung  upon  his 
agile  step.     Day  by  day  strength  failed ;  the  sys- 


378  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

tem  betokened  decay ;  the  heart  was  affected ;  dropsy 
was  feared, — the  Successful  Merchant  had  lived  too 
fast.  His  master  energy  which  had  crushed  so  many 
difficulties  had  been  doing  its  work  on  his  own  frame, 
■which  soon  became  a  witness  that  over-activity  is 
not  to  be  indulged  without  shivering  a  man  at  last. 
Prone  ever  to  self-reproach,  slow  to  behold  the 
full  consolation  of  the  gospel,  the  first  days  of  his 
illness  were  days  of  mourning;  not  the  mourning 
of  selfish  fear,  which  shudders  in  presence  of  its  just 
doom,  without  sorrow  for  offences ;  but  the  mourning 
of  a  heart  which  felt  itself  infinitely  indebted  to  the 
Redeemer's  undeserved  mercy,  and  could  not  for- 
give itself  for  having"  loved  him  so  little  and  served 
him  so  imperfectly.  His  soul  was  especially  weighed 
down  by  this, — he  had  seen,  felt,  and  been  drawn 
towards  that  full  salvation  which  our  glorious  Sa- 
viour has  wrought  out  for  his  followers ;  the  glory 
of  an  intimate  fellowship  with  God  had  been  open  to 
his  eye,  and  he  had  stopped  short  of  it,  had  followed 
at  a  distance,  had  served  with  a  divided  heart,  had 
consequently  oft  faltered  and  stumbled  in  his  course. 
Unmeasured  self-accusation,  outgushing  grief  for  his 
ill  return  of  the  Saviour's  boundless  love,  open  hu- 
miliation and  sorrow  thrown  fully  before  friend  or 
minister  or  children,  prayers  of  piteous  abasement, 
and  tears  flowing  copiously,  marked  the  early  scenes 
of  his  last  sickness.  "While  many  who  had  been 
far  higher  in  their  professions  and  far  less  abundant 
in  their  fruits  were  entering  the  valley  of  death  with 
an  easy  acknowledgment  that  they  had  been  "  very 


THE   LATTER   END.  379 

unfaithful,"  Samuel  Budgett  was  pouring  floods  of 
contrite  sorrow  on  the  feet  of  that  blessed  Saviour 
who  had  forgiven  him  so  much  and  had  been  so 
unworthily  requited.  But,  though  our  God  seeks  the 
sacrifice  of  a  contrite  heart,  he  delights  not  in  the 
wailing  of  joyless  self-reproach.  In  that  is  neither 
bliss  for  his  creature  nor  glory  for  himself.  He  re- 
veals himself  as  freely  and  abundantly  forgiving  all 
who  contritely  come  to  him  through  Christ;  and 
such  glorious  mercy  is  not  fitly  owned  when,  un- 
mindful of  its  balm,  we  persist  in  only  bemoaning 
our  sores.  This  Avas  Mr.  Budgett's  danger,  and 
from  this  cause  he  passed  clays  of  gloom.  But 
prayer  was  made  for  him  continually,  and  friends 
strong  in  faith  were  ever  reminding  him  of  the  love 
infinitely  stored  up  in  the  Kedeemer  he  adored. 
That  Redeemer,  though  he  permitted  sorrow  for  a 
while  (as  if  to  show  that  in  sickness  all  earthly  comforts 
do  not  suffice,  even  with  good  hope  of  restoration), 
did,  ere  long,  shed  abroad  in  the  heart  of  his  servant 
a  plenteous  consolation  which  well  showed  that  part- 
ing; with  all  the  enticements  of  earth  is  not  hard  to 
him  whom  Christ  makes  joyful. 

It  has  been  my  task  to  show  you  (indistinctly 
and  poorly,  it  is  true)  the  Successful  Merchant  in 
his  childhood,  in  the  early  trials  of  his  way,  in  his 
swift  ascent  to  wealth,  among  his  men,  among  his 
neighbours,  in  his  family,  and  in  his  closet.  May- 
hap, in  following  him,  you  have  learned  that  a  man 
may  fear  God,  be  benevolent,  laborious  in  good  works, 
a  reader  of  his  Bible,  a  follower  of  inward  and  spirit- 


380  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

ual  life,  and  yet  the  while  fill  up  a  man's  full  place 
in  trade  and  earn  a  prime  reward.  Now  we  have 
reached  the  moment  when  he  and  death  first  stand 
openly  face  to  face.  It  is  hope  and  fear  no  longer : 
the  hour  has  struck,  his  work  is  done,  the  market  is 
closed  forever;  purchase  and  sale,  profit  and  loss,  are 
things  of  the  past.  He  is  facing  a  world  where  there 
is  no  money,  no  bargains,  no  store  and  stock  of  earthly 
good.  There  he  lies  now,  in  that  chamber,  between 
the  world  of  bustle  and  the  world  of  retribution ; 
while  this  home,  these  possessions,  these  friends 
which  his  warm  heart  knows  how  to  value,  like  the 
relations  of  an  emigrant  by  the  ship  side,  awaiting 
the  moment  when  he  shall  glide  away  to  the  un- 
seen country. 

Just  at  this  point  I  am  happy  to  withdraw  and 
leave  you  with  him.  The  friend  who  had  written 
from  his  own  lips  notes  of  the  recollections  of  his 
childhood,  would  fain  have  completed  the  story  of 
his  life  ere  he  went  hence.  For  this  purpose  she 
came  to  his  side ;  but  it  was  vain  now  to  seek  re- 
citals of  the  past.  The  present,  however,  was  full 
of  lessons,  and  was  daily  noted.  This,  then,  en- 
ables me  to  lead  you  into  his  chamber,  and  leave 
you  there ;  and  if  you  are  little  wiser  and  little  better 
for  your  fellowship  with  me,  God  grant  that  it  may 
not  be  so  as  to  your  fellowship  with  him ! 

"On  Monday,  March  10th,  the  first  morning  after 
dropsy  made  its  appearance,  he  said,  'I  was  not 
sorry  last  night  to  discover  my  legs  were  swollen,  it 


THE  LATTER  END.  381 

will  Only  hasten  me  home  the  sooner.'  In  the  after- 
noon of  the  same  day,  on  returning  from  Bristol, 
after  hearing  Dr.  Symonds's  opinion,  he  expressed 
his  willingness  to  depart,  and  said,  'I  dare  say 
there  will  be  a  desire  to  say  something  of  me  after 
I  am  gone ;  but  mind,  let  there  not  be  one  word 
said  or  written  to  extol  the  creature.  Mind,  "  I  am 
a  sinner  saved  by  grace,"  "  a  brand  plucked  from 
the  burning." ' 

"At  the  same  time  he  remarked,  'My  family, 
how  I  love  my  family !  I  never  valued  my  family 
as  I  value  them  now ;  if  I  am  permitted  I  shall 
often  like  to  meet  you  in  this  room,  when  you  are 
assembled  together.' 

"Friday,  the  14th,  he  sent  for  Miss ,  and 

said,  'I  sent  for  you  to  tell  you  how  happy  I  am ; 
not  a  wave,  not  a  ripple,  not  a  fear,  not  a  shadow 
of  doubt.  I  didn't  think  it  was  possible  for  man  to 
enjoy  so  much  of  God  upon  earth,  Z'm  filled  with 
God: 

"  On  stepping  into  the  carriage  he  stopped  and 

said,  '  How  is  Mrs.  ?'     On  receiving  a  reply, 

he  said  with  solemn  earnestness,  '  O ,  "  seek 

ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness, 
and  all  other  things  shall  be  added  unto  you."' 
During  the  ride,  he  spoke  on  various  subjects,  and 
much  enjoyed  some  verses  that  were  repeated,  fre- 
quently joining  in.  A  member  of  his  class  who  saw 
him,  came  and  congratulated  him  on  being  out, 
hoping  he  was  better.  Mr.  Budgett  said,  '  No ; 
J  feel  I  am  going  home.     I  should  like  to  have  met 


382  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

you  all  once  more,  but  tell  them  all  to  meet  me  In 
heaven.' 

"Monday,  the  17th,  he  said  to  Miss  Budgett,  'I 
have  passed  a  pleasant  night,  but  feel  myself  getting 
weaker.  My  stay  on  earth  will  be  but  short.  I 
shall  soon  arrive  at  home.  It  gives  me  great 
pleasure  to  think  we  shall  be  an  unbroken  family 
in  heaven.  My  father's  family  are  many  of  them 
gone;  the  rest  are  on  the  way.  My  own  family, 
part  of  them,  are  in  heaven.  Yes,  I  have  some 
dear  children  in  heaven,  and  so  have  you,  (meaning 
spiritual  children.)     It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to 

look  on and ,  because  I  know  they 

are  trying  to  serve  the  Church,  and  when  they  have 
served  their  generations  on  earth,  they  will  join  me 
above.  O,  how  thin  does  the  veil  now  appear  which 
separates  earth  from  heaven  !' 

"  The  same  day,  to  Mrs.  M ,  speaking  of  the 

uncertainty  of  his  present  state,  he  said, '  Who  would 
not  rather,  being  brought  to  this  point,  go, — I.  am 
resigned.  /  have  not  a  paper  to  sign,  not  a  shilling 
to  give  away,  not  a  book  but  any  one  may  compre- 
hend in  ten  minutes.  I  feel  as  if  I  were  a  poor  sin- 
ner saved  through  my  dear  mother's  prayers,  the 
prayers  of  my  friends,  and  my  own  poor  feeble 
prayers,  offered  through  Christ.  He  cannot  cast 
me  off,  but  has  gently  guided  me  through  the  wil- 
derness, and  is  keeping  me  there  till  I  am  perfected 
through  suffering.' 

"  The  same  day  he  saw  Mr. :  '  I  am  glad  to 

see  you,  mv  dear  friend.     How  hard  it  is  in  life 


THE  LATTER  END.  383 

and  vigour  to  brine  our  minds  to  believe  that  we 
must  suffer ;  but  the  Lord  has  seen  fit  to  bring  me 
to  a  death-bed.  I  this  day  hang  like  a  little  child 
in  a  brook,  catching  hold  of  a  branch  that  is  thrown 
out  to  save  it ;  only  there  is  this  one  difference  in 
my  case,  I  hang  upon  the  branch  of  Jesse's  stem. 
Christ  will  keep  me;  I  am  safe.  The  day  of 
mourning  is  better  than  the  day  of  rejoicing.  God 
has  blessed  me  with  prosperity  in  life,  and  were  he 
to  see  fit  to  spare  me  now,  I  should  have  a  fairer 
prospect  of  prosperity  than  most  before  me ;  but  I 
give  all  up.  I  would  not  alter  my  lot  if  it  were  in 
my  power  to  do  so  for  any  earthly  advantage.  The 
blood  of  Christ  is  all  to  me.  I  hang  upon  the 
atonement. 

"In  the  afternoon,  being  a  little  restless  and  un- 
able to  sleep,  he  lay  for  some  minutes  apparently 
very  uncomfortable,  when  in  an  instant  a  sweet 
smile  lit  up  his  countenance  as  he  exclaimed, 
'"Why  should  a  living  man  complain? — a  man 
for  the  punishment  of  his  sins?"'  and  then  burst 
forth  in  praise  to  God  for  the  mercies  which  he  en- 
joyed, notwithstanding  he  was  so  great  a  sinner. 
Soon  after  he  raised  his  hands  and  said,  '  Glory ! 
glory !  glory !  I  want  to  shout  the  praises  of 
God.' 

"  The  same  day  his  son asked  if  he  would 

like  any  message  to  be  conveyed  from  him  to  the 
Young  Men's  Association.  He  said,  'I  am  too 
weak  to  say  much;  but  tell  them  to  take  the 
advice  I  used  to  srive  them.     I  feel  for  them  as  rny 


384  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

own  sons,  and  they  may  become  as  happy  and  as 
useful  as  they  are.  If  they  will  hold  together  and 
try  to  help  one  another  they  will  be  sure  to  prosper. 
I  wish  them  to  be  provided  for  after  my  death  as 
they  were  before,  and  I  leave  it  to  my  sons  to  do 
so.  Tell  the  young  women  of  the  Association  the 
same.' 

"  On  Tuesday,  the  18th,  he  saw  Mrs.  H and 

said,  '  I  am  glad  to  see  you,  I  should  like  to  have 
lived  a  little  longer  if  it  had  been  for  your  sake,  but 
you  '11  not  want  an  earthly  friend.  My  sons  will  be 
to  you  what  I  have  been.  I  have  told  them  all 
about  it,  and  they  will  be  kind  to  you.'  He  in- 
quired if  she  had  anything  to  say  to  him :  on  her 
replying  she. only  wished  to  thank  him  for  all  his 
kindness,  he  said,  '  I  wish  it  had  been  more,  but  I 
know  it  has  helped  you.  Good-bye  !  The  Lord  be 
with  you :  cleave  to  him  and  he  will  be  a  friend ; 
yes,  he  will  be  your  friend,  your  husband,  your  sup- 
port. He  will  guide  you  in  passing  through  the 
troubles  of  this  life.  He  will  be  your  shield,  your 
defence,  and  your  exceeding  great  reward.  The 
time  is  passing  away:  we  shall  soon  meet'     The 

same  morning  Mr.  and  Mrs.  came.      After 

some    remarks    to   Mrs.  ,  he   addressed    her 

husband : — "  My    dear  ,    you    have    still    to 

cope  with  the  difficulties  and  trials  of  business.  I 
look  back  on  all  the  way  I  have  been  led,  and  feel 
it  is  your  privilege  "to  walk  unburned  in  fire." 
Cleave  to  him  ;  keep  close  to  Jesus.  Every  morn- 
ing, before  you  leave  your  room,  inquire,  Lord,  what 


THE   LATTER   END.  385 

wouldst  thou  have  me  do  ?  And  every  evening  ask 
yourself,  How  much  owest  thou  unto  thy  Lord  ? 
Keep  short  reckonings  with  him  ;  go  forward,  and 
your  path  shall  be  as  that  of  the  just,  shining  more 
md  more  unto  the  perfect  day.  I  think  I  may  have 
a  little  more  suffering  before  I  go,  but  I  am  willing 
to  bear  it.  Good-bye  !  "  May  the  peace  of  God, 
which  passeth  all  understanding,  keep  your  hearts 
and  minds  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  God  and 
of  .his  Son,  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord  !"  ' 

"On  Sunday  night,  March  23d,  before  he  was 
undressed  he  said,  "  Let  us  spend  a  few  minutes  in 
silent  prayer,  I  think  I  can  hardly  bear  praying 
aloud.  Pray,  my  dear  friend,  that  we  may  to-night 
experience  the  presence  and  blessing  of  our  heavenly 
Father.  Ask  that  I  may  obtain  a  settled  calm  and 
quiet  sleep.' 

"  After  he  got  into  bed  he  lay  for  some  hours  in 
a  most  delightful  state  of  mind,  occasionally  giving 
vent  to  his  feelings  in  expressions,  a  few  only  of 
which  can  be  remembered.  It  was  observed,  '  You 
feel  that  your  heavenly  Father  can  make  you  enjoy 
affliction.'  '  O  yes,'  he  said,  '  /  do  now  ;  I  don't 
feel  myself  like  a  sick  man,  I  feel  I  am  luxuriating 
in  God's  presence ;  but  I  believe  he  means  soon  to 
take  me.'  It  was  remarked,  '  Well,  yours  will  be 
the  gain,  ours  the  loss.'  Mr.  Budgett  replied,  '  Yes, 
I  know  to  me  it  will  be  gain,  unspeakable  gain, — 
and  you  will  lose  a  friend,  but  not  much  loss;  I 
have  not  been  so  spiritually  minded  as  I  ought,  and 
this  has  been  your  loss.'      Again  he  said,  '  0,  what 

25 


386  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

a  peculiar  feeling  I  have  this  evening :  it  is  delight- 
ful.    I  feel  as  I  did  the  other  Sabhath  evening  with 

:   then  it  was  a  solemn  eventide.      The  room 

seems  filled  with  God.'  Presently  he  said,  '  I  feel 
as  if  God  were  now  present,  willing  and  waiting  to 
receive  my  heart,  that  he  may  become  my  all,  and 
give  himself  to  me  more  fully.  Come,  Lord,  take 
away  the  last  remains  of  sin,  make  me  ready  for 
heaven,  and  fit  me  for  crossing  the  Jordan.'  Thus 
he  continued  in  fervent  ejaculations  till  from  com- 
plete exhaustion  he  fell  into  a  doze.  Waking  in 
two  or  three  minutes,  he  said,  '  I  felt  overpowered 
and  dropped  asleep,  and  when  I  awoke  I  thought 
(pointing  to  the  curtains)  all  this  was  my  tomb ; 
but  the  room  around  me  was  so  bright — it  was 
dazzling  brightness  too  great  to  bear."1  Continually 
he  repeated,  '  /  ,m  very  comfortable — too  happy.' 
Then  again,  '  This  is  a  most  remarkable  time,  I  feel 
a  solemn  sense  of  the  presence  of  God ;  so  calm,  so 
beautiful.'  Then  did  he  almost  unconsciously  slide 
into  prayer — '  Lord,  I  am  thine,  thou  art  mine.  I 
have  made  a  covenant  with  thee,  I  would  not 
break  it  for  a  thousand  worlds.  Lord,  keep  me, 
baptize  me  anew,  help  me  to  rejoice  more  fully  in 
thee,  give  a  still  clearer  witness  that  I  am  wholly 
thine. 

"  Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest, 

Offer'd  his  blood  and  died : 
My  guilty  conscience  seeks 

No  sacrifice  beside. 
His  blood  for  me  did  once  atone, 
And  now  it  pleads  before  the  throne."  '- 


THE  LATTER  END.  387 

Afterwards  he  broke  out — 

'  "  0,  here  is  rest  and  calm  repose ; 

Here  all  my  sorrows  cease  ; 
For  Jesus  meets  my  spirit  here, 

And  kindly  whispers  peace."  : 

"  Wednesday  evening,  April  2d. — For  the  first 
time  he  was  carried  up  stairs.  On  the  way  he  said 
to  the  men  who  carried  him,  '  I  am  quite  ready  to 
be  carried  down  whenever  my  heavenly  Father  sees 
fit.  Thank  God,  I  have  a  hope  beyond  the  grave.' 
On  being  seated  he  said, '  Wait ;  I  want  to  tell  you 
on  what  my  hope  is  fixed.  Listen.''  He  then  re- 
peated his  favourite  verse, 

'  "  Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest,  &c." 

I  thank  God  for  such  an  assurance  : — 

"  I  the  chief  of  sinners  am, 
But  Jesus  died  for  me," 

and  not-  for  me  only,  he  is  willing  to  receive  all — 
any  may  come.  See,  this  is  the  way  all  must 
come,  through  Him.     "  This  man  receiveth  sinners 

still."  ' 

"  Tuesday,  April  8. — At  Weston-super-Mare,  the 

Rev>  t called.    After  some  remarks  had  passed 

respecting  his  health,  Mr.  Budgett  said,  '  Well,  you 
know  there  is  not  really  any  more  uncertainty  about 
my  life' than  yours,  or  any  other  person's  ;  you  may 
be  gone  in  an  hour  or  two,  or  so  may  I :  but  I 
have  no  great  desire  either  way  ;  for  me  to  live  is 
Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain  ;  but  if  I  might  choose,  I 


388  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

would  rather  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  which  is 
far,  far  better.'  He  then  repeated,  with  an  em- 
phasis never  to  be  forgotten, — 

'  "  Thou  Shepherd  of  Israel  and  mine, 
The  joy  and  desire  of  my  heart ; 

For  closer  communion  I  pine, 
I  losg  to  reside  where  thou  art. 

Ah,  show  me  that  happiest  place, 
The  place  of  thy  people's  abode, 

Where  saints  in  an  ecstasy  gaze, 
And  hang  on  a  crucified  God."  ' 

As  lie  repeated  these  lines  the  tears  streamed  down, 
plainly  indicating  that  more  was  really  felt  than 
could  be  expressed.  The  next  day  when  dressed, 
he  said,  '  Well,  I  'm  glad  we  are  going  home  to- 
day ;  I  shall  not  have  many  more  changes ;  this  I 
expect  will  be  my  last  change,  till  I  am  removed  to 
that  beautiful  little  place  they  call  the  tomb :  yes. 
I  feel  that  my  next  remove  will  be  to  the  chapel 
yard.' 

"On   Thursday,  April  10th,  he  said,  'And  so 

poor  J.  H is   gone !     Poor  fellow !    do  you 

know  what  sort  of  an  end  he  made  V  On  his  be- 
ing told  nothing  was  known  on  that  subject,  he 
said, '  Poor  fellow  !  the  last  time  I  saw  him  I  talked 
to  him,  and  begged  him  not  to  build  on  his  health. 
I  told  him  how  many  were  called  away  in  the  midst 
of  health.  I  have  often  talked  to  him  on  the  ne- 
cessity of  seeking  a  change  of  heart.  I  don't  know 
whether  it  was  the  last  time  I  saw  him,  but  it  is  not 
long  since  that  I  gave  him  the  "  Sinner's  Friend."  ' 


THE  LATTEB  EKD.  389 

"Friday  evening,  April  Wth. — Conversing  witli 
his  medical  attendant,  he  again  inquired  as  to  the 
probahle  result  of  his  sickness,  and  on  being  told  it 
was  still  very  uncertain,  he  said, — 'Well,  when  I 
look  around  at  my  family  and  the  Church,  I  feel  as 
if  life  would  still  be  a  blessing.  I  am  not  one  of 
those  who  are  weary  of  the  world,  nor  do  I  feel  any 
sympathy  with  such  ;  but  when  I  look  at  myself  as 
an  individual,  I  feel  'twere  better  far  to  go. 

"  There  is  my  house  and  portion  fair ; 
My  treasure  and  my  heart  are  there, 
And  my  abiding  home." 

But  I  did  not  feel  like  this  at  the  beginning  of  my 
illness ;  then  I  felt  my  own  unfaithfulness  had  been 
so  great,  I  wished  to  be  spared  a  few  years  longer 
that  I  might  prepare  for  heaven ;  but  I  have  been 
led  to  see  that  I  can  do  nothing  to  merit  heaven. 
Could  I  live  like  an  archangel,  still  I  should  not 
merit  heaven : — 

"  In  my  hands  no  price  I  bring  ; 
Simply  to  the  ctoss  I  cling." 

I  trust  now  in  the  merits  of  my  Saviour — in  his 
atoning  blood.  I  feel  that  it  is  "  not  by  works  of 
righteousness  which  we  have  done,  but  of  his  mercy 
hath  he  saved  us."  No,  it  is  "  by  grace  are  ye 
saved  through  faith,  and  that  not  of  yourselves,  it 
is  the  gift  of  God."  One  being  named  who  was 
getting  old,  he  said,  '  O  !  he  has  made  a  god  of  his 
money.  Often  have  I  talked  to  him  and  urged  him 
to  make  preparation  for  a  better  country.     0,  what 


•j^U  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

is  all  the  world  worth  to  a  dying  man  ?  Riches  I 
have  had  as  much  as  my  heart  could  desire,  but  I 
never  felt  any  pleasure  in  them  for  their  own  sake, 
only  so  far  as  they  enabled  me  to  give  pleasure  to 
others  :  as  for  honour ' 

"  Sunday  evening,  April  13th. — 'I  have  toiled, 
and  now  others  will  enter  into  my  labours.'  Then 
dwelling  on  the  success  which  had  attended  his  ef- 
forts, he  said,  'This  may  seem  like  boasting,  but  I 
feel  that  everything  which  has  been  well  done  ami 
prospered  is  that  in  which  I  was  prompted  and 
guided  and  assisted  by  my  heavenly  Father,  and 
that  which  failed  was  when  I  leaned  upon  mv  own 
efforts  and  endeavours,  and  then  they  proved  weak 
and  powerless.' 

"  To  a  young  friend  who  was  with  him,  he  said, 
'  I  should  like  to  have  lived  a  little  longer  for  your 
sake.  Sometimes  I  feel  as  if  I  should  like  to  look 
forward  and  trace  vour  course  throuo;h  life.  Yes,  I 
should  like  to  mark  out  your  path  for  you  ;  but  this 
is  wrong.  I  may  not  choose  the  best  path,  neither 
can  you ;  but  /  can  and  do  commend  you  to  the 
care  of  our  heavenly  Father.  He  will  guide  you 
aright.  "  Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord ;  trust 
also  in  him,  and  he  shall  bring  it  to  pass."  O,  "  in 
all  thy  ways  acknowledge  him,  and  he  shall  direct 
thy  paths." '  Soon  after,  looking  very  earnestly  at 
her  he  said,  '  "  Let  your  eye  be  single,  then  your 
whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light."  Mind;  keep  a 
single  eye ; — do  you  hear  ?  In  all  the  events  of 
life  keep  a  single  eye.'     On  being  told,  after  the 


THE  LATTER  END.  391 

evening  service  at  which  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  supper  had  been  administered,  how  fervently 
he  had  been  prayed  for,  he  said,  '  Ah,  they  will  not 
have  to  pray  for  me  again  on  such  an  occasion  ; 
before  another  month  goes  round  I  shall  be  in  a 
better  country.'  It  was  said,  '  How  delightful  is  the 
thought  that  you  will  so  soon  be  there !  there  you 
will  have  a  harp  of  gold,  be  clothed  in  white  rai- 
ment, and  have  a  crown  upon  your  head.'  '  Yes,' 
he  said,  '  I  like  to  hear  of  the  beauties  of  heaven, 
but  I  do  not  dwell  upon  them ;  no,  what  I  rejoice 
in  is  that  Christ  ivill  be  there.  Where  he  is,  there 
(shall  I  be  also.  I  know  that  he  is  in  me  and  I  in 
him.  I  shall  see  him  as  he  is.  I  delight  in  know- 
ing that.  I  have  no  dread  of  death  ;  I  have  not 
had  for  some  time.  I  wish  one  of  you  would  write 
to  Mr.  Wood ;  give  him  my  love,  and  tell  him  1 
thank  God  almost  every  day.  for  his  visit  here. 
Since  that  first  night  he  was  with  me,  I  have  had 
no  fear :  the  enemy  has  assaulted  me  once  or  twice, 
but  only  for  a  short  time.' 

"  Wednesday,  April  16  th. — On  seeing  Mrs. , 

after  a  few  observations,  he  asked,  '  How  many 
children  have  you  in  heaven?'  She  replied,  'Nine.' 
On  which  he  said,  '  O,  what  a  happy  company !  I 
look  forward  to  see  my  father  and  mother,  my  sis- 
ters, and  some  of  my  dear  children  are  there.  Yes, 
and  I  believe  my  dear  wife  and  the  rest  of  my  child- 
ren and  every  one  of  my  relations  will  meet  me 
there.  I  look  upon  myself  as  the  most  unworthy 
when  I   consider  the  many  privileges  I  have  en- 


392  THE   SUCCESSFUL    MERCHANT. 

joyed,  the  light  I  have  received  ever  since  I  was  a 
child.  I  know  I  have  always  felt  something  of  the 
hidden  life,  but  I  have  not  always  lived  so  closely 
to  God  as  I  should  ;  for  this  I  humble  myself  before 

him.     I  am  glad  to  see  Mr.  seeking  after 

(rod:  he  is  altered,  but  I  want  to  see  him  decided. 
nothing  else  will  do  :  even  he  can't  escape  the 
shafts  of  death.  "Be  ye  therefore  ready,  for  at 
such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not  the  Son  of  man 
cometh."  ' 

"  The   same   afternoon  he  saw  Miss   F ,  to 

whom  he  spoke  most  sweetly  of  the  many  mercies 
and  comforts  he  enjoyed,  recapitulating  many  of 
them  to  her,  whilst  his  heart  seemed  overflowing 
with  gratitude.     Soon  after  he  repeated, — 

'  "My  God,  I  am  thine  ;  what  a  comfort  divine, 
What  a  blessing  to  know  that  my  Jesus  is  mine  !"  &c. 

That  was  brother  Henry's  favourite  verse.     How 

many  times  he  repeated  it  during  his  last  illness  ! 
But  this  is  my  favourite, — 

"  Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest,"  &c. 

How  much  is  contained  in  that  verse!     How  full, 

is  it  not  V 

"  Saturday  the  19th. — He  said  to  S- 


'  Just  now  I  woke  up  in  a  turmoil,  wondering  wh.e 
would  take  care  of  Society  matters  when  I  am  gone, 
and  then  I  thought  of  my  own  spiritual  cares ;  but 
I  can  cast  them  all  upon  my  Saviour, — 


THE  LATTER  END.  393 

'•  E'er  since  by  faith  I  saw  the  stream 

Thy  flowing  wounds  supply, 
Redeeming  love  has  been  my  theme, 

And  shall  be  till  I  die." 


As  to  the  circuit  affairs,  I  leave  them  all  with  W- 
they  need  not  trouble  me  any  more.' 


"  To  his  son  William  he  said,  '  You  are  entering 
life  under  very  different  circumstances  with  regard 
to  temporal  things  to  what  I  did ;  pursue  the  same 
course  I  have  done,  and  your  way  is  made :  let 
there  be  this  difference,  where  I  have  followed 
trifles  you  follow  the  dictates  of  the  Spirit ;  wherein 
I  have  followed  my  senses,  you  cleave  close  to  God, 
and  all  will  be  well.  If  you  do  that,  in  twenty 
years'  time,  if  you  should  be  spared,  I  shall  look 
down  upon  you,  and  I  shall  see  you  respected  and 
beloved  by  all  the  neighbourhood.'  That  text  was 
repeated  to  him,  'I  have  fought  a  good  fight,'  &c. 
'Ah,'  he  said,  'I  can't  say  with  the  apostle,  "I  have 
fought  a  good  fight ;"  for  I  have  not.  I  have  been 
unfaithful ;  but  there  is  an  atonement  through  Jesus. 
I  can  say,  I  have  almost "  finished  my  course ;  hence- 
forth there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  croAvn  of  righteous- 
ness which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give 
me  at  that  day."' 

Saturday  morning,  the  19th. — On  being  told  the 
water  was  advancing,  he  said,  'I  thank  God — for 
that  I'm  glad ;  I  believe  I  shall  go  soon ;  it  does 
not  alarm  me.  I  think  I  shall  go  suddenly;  but  if 
I  go  in  a  moment  it  does  not  matter,  all  will  be 
well.'      In  the  afternoon  he  observed,  'How  our 


394  THE    SUCCESSFUL    MERCHANT. 

heavenly  Father  paves  our  way  down  to  the  tomb ! 
I  seem  so  happy  and  comfortable ;  it  seems  as  it  it 
cannot  be  for  me,  as  if  it  must  be  for  somebody 
else, — I  don't  deserve  it.'  Soon  after  his  bell  rang, 
and  on  entering  his  room  he  was  seated  on  the  side 
of  the  bed,  gasping  for  breath.  He  said,  '  O,  I 
thought  I  was  just  going ;  the  wind,  or  water,  or 
something  rose  and  almost  suffocated  me.  Yes,  I 
thought  I  was  going.'     Then  added, '  I  am  so  happy. 

so  comfortable,  so  very  happy}      To  Mrs.  J 

B he  said,  '  I  am  glad  to  see  you.      I  have 

sympathized  with  you  deeply  in  your  affliction.  Our 
times  of  meeting  are  growing  into  a  narrow  compass 
now.  This  may  be  the  last  time,  or  at  most  we  shall 
not  meet  above  once  or  twice  more  ;  not  that  I  have 
any  particular  presentiment  of  the  sort,  for  God  may- 
revive  me  again.  I  may  be  spared  to  walk  among 
you  yet,  but  I  think  not;  from  the  rapidity  with 
which  the  water  seems  to  be  rising  it  will  not  be 
long ;  I  may  go  off  now,  this  moment,  while  I  am 
talking  to  you ;  and  I  should  not  be  scarry.  I  am 
as  weak  as  an  infant :  now  I  can  do  nothing.  Glory 
be  to  God,  all  is  well.  My  temporal  affairs  I  leave 
in  the  hands  of  my  sons,  and  my  spiritual  affairs 
with  my  Saviour.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  my  com- 
forts and  consolations  abound. 

"  Better  than  my  boding  fears, 
To  me  Thou  oft  has  proved." 

1  have  sunk  into  the  arms  of  omnipotent  love.  I 
cannot  tell  you  how  much  mercy  I  have  been  the 


THE  LATTER  END.  395 

subject  of.  I  love  you,  and  am  thankful  I  was  in- 
troduced to  your  family  :  thankful  for  my  children's 
sake.  I  only  regret  that  I  have  benefitted  so  little 
from  your  society.  Give  my  love  to  all  your  dear 
family,  tell  them  they  have  my  highest  respect  and 
best  wishes  that  they  may  enjoy  every  blessing  both 
for  body  and  soul.' 

"The  same  evening,  when  several  were  in  his 
room,  he  inquired,  '  Can  you  tell  me  what  a  debt  I 
owe  to  God  for  having  given  me  such  innumerable 
mercies  and  comforts  ?  He  has  indeed  given  me 
plenty  of  this  world's  goods;  each  of  my  children 
will  have  ample,  and  my  dear  wife  too.  I  have 
every  comfort  I  can  desire ;  0,  tell  me  how  much  I 
owe  !  How  can  I  pay  this  debt  of  gratitude  ?  There 
has  been  many  a  time  when  I  have  given  away  my 
last  shilling,  and  now  I  have  more  than  I  could 
have  desired,  and  the  more  I  give  away  the  more 
comes  in ;  and  I  have  more  coming  in  than  ever  I 
had.  What  a  mercy  to  have  so  many  kind  friends  ! 
I  am  surprised  at  your  kindness  and  willingness 
to  do  so  many  little  acts  of  love  for  me.  I  hope 
none  of  you  will  ever  want  for  kind  attention  in 
affliction. 

"  Kindness  gives  the  fleeting  flower 
Of  life  its  lustre  and  perfume ; 
And  we  are  weeds  without  it." 

O,  God  has  bestowed  upon  me  far  above  my  desires  ; 
tell  me,  my  dear  friend,  how  much  I  owe  !  I  enjoy 
all  these  temporal  blessings,  and  how  can  I  repay 
the  debt  for  these  ?     But  this  is  not  a  thousandth 


396  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

part  of  the  debt  I  owe.  0  no ;  when  I  think  of  my 
spiritual  mercies,  I  'm  lost.  When  I  think  of  my 
heavenly  Father's  goodness — a  brand  plucked  from 
the  eternal  burning,  soon  to  be  raised  to  live  with 
angels,  and  above  all  with  himself — I  feel  I  have 

"  Riches  above  what  earth  can  grant, 
And  lasting  as  the  mind!"  ' 

Then  in  a  rapture,  and  with  tears  of  joy  streaming 
down  his  face,  he  exclaimed,  '  O,  I  'm  overwhelmed 
with  love.  I  w^ant  to  fly  to  preach  Christ  to  all  the 
world.  I'll  praise  him  everywhere.  Can  I  be  lost  ? 
O  no,  no.  O,  I  want  to  preach  Christ.  I  am  over 
burdened  with  love  and  gratitude.' 

"  Sunday  afternoon,  April  20th. — To  Mrs.  P 

he  said,  '  Tell  Mr.  P that  I  come  saying,— 

"  Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest,"  &c, 

and  tell  him  to  come  in  the  same  way,  and  there  is 
no  time  to  lose.  Nothing  I  have  ever.done,  and 
nothing  he  has  ever  done,  can  save  him.  No,  we 
must  come  as  poor  worthless  sinners  to  Jesus, — 

"That  only  ground  of  all  my  pica." 

You  don't  know  what  mental  suffering  I  had  at  the 
commencement  of  my  illness.  The  adversary  came 
to  me,  and  tormented  me  with  fears  of  all  kinds ; 
he  showed  me  my  great  unfaithfulness,  told  me  I 
had  deceived  my  friends  (not  designedly,  I  know) 
with  a  good  moral  exterior,  whilst  my  heart  was 
not  risrht  within.     I  know  there  was  truth  in  it  all, 


THE  LATTER  END.  397 

and  was  distressed  beyond  measure,  but  I  was 
enabled  to  say, — Lord,  I  am  a  sinner;  God  be 
merciful  unto  me ;  I  am  lost,  but  Ghrist  hath  died. 
From  that  night  I  have  had  no  fear.  The  sting  of 
death  is  gone.  I  had  some  fear  of  death  at  the 
beginning,  because  of  my  past  unfaithfulness ;  but 
the  merits  of  Christ  are  all-sufficient.  Now  I  enjoy 
a  sweet  calm  : — 

"  I  bless  the  day  that  I  was  born."  ' 

Then,  as  in  a  rapture  he  exclaimed,  '  O,  I  can't  de- 
scribe my  happiness.  I  bless  God  that  lie  created 
me,  that  he  has  spared  me,  and  that  he  has  par- 
doned me.  I  thank  God  that  you  and  I  were  ever 
acquainted,  that  I  ever  saw  your  dear  sister,  and 
that  I  was  ever  united  to  her.  O,  God  has  been 
very  gracious  to  me.  I  praise  him  for  the  past, 
what  he  has  done  for  me!  I  praise  him  for  the 
present,  what  he  is  now  doing  for  me !  and  I 
praise  him  for  the  future,  knowing  what  he  will  do 
fur  me.' 

"  One  of  his  nephews  coming  to  see  him,  he  said, 

'  Well,  F ,  how  are  you  ?     I  have  heard  that 

3rou  have  been  poorly,  I  am  glad  to  see  you  better 
again.  Are  you  come  out  of  the  affliction  as  gold 
purified  V  He  then  spoke  to  him  of  the  necessity 
of  a  change  of  heart,  of  the  simplicity  of  the  plan 
of  salvation,  and  of  the  depth  of  the  love  which 
Jesus  Christ  had  manifested  towards  us.  Once  or 
twice  he  asked  him  whether  he  did  not  believe  in 
the  love  of  his  Saviour, — his  willingness  to  save  all 


398  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

who  came  to  him.  Then  endeavouring  to  explain 
the  way  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  he  said,  '  Suppose 
that  you  wished  to  buy  some  sheep  of  me  and  had 
paid  the  money,  and  I  had  promised  to  let  you  have 
them ;  you  would  believe  they  were  yours  though 
they  were  in  my  field,  as  much  as  if  you  had  them 
in  your  own,  because  I  had  promised  them :  so  vou 
must  believe  that  God  will  give  you  the  blessings 
you  require  of  him.  Now,  take  your  bad  heart  up 
stairs,  don't  take  it  down  to  the  breakfast  table; 
but  take  it  up  at  once  and  give  it  to  God.  He  will 
then  accept  it  and  make  you  as  happy  as  I  am  in 
my  affliction.  Do  go  and  fall  on  your  knees  and 
ask  mercy  while  it  is  offered,  and  you  will  be  sure 
to  obtain  it.'  Having  thus  earnestly  urged  him  to 
come  to  Christ  at  once,  lie  said,  '  You  will  be  hap- 
pier yourself,  and  you  will  return  home  under  a  dif- 
ferent influence,  be  useful  to  your  uncle  and  aunt 
and  Sarah.' 

"  In  the  afternoon  he  sent  for  Miss  Budgett  (Mrs. 
Budgett  and  Mrs.  Mees  were  already  there)  and 
said  he  felt  better  and  should  like  to  receive  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper — a  wish  he  had 
several  times  before  expressed,  but  from  weakness 
had  been  prevented.  He  then  told  Miss  B.  he 
should  like  her  to  question  him  closely,  lest  he 
should  have  made  any  mistake  on  the  subject,  and 
for  her  to  read  and  pray  with  him.  She  then  read 
to  him  the  twenty-third  psalm,  and  the  hymn  com- 
mencing,— 

"  And  lot  this  feeble  body  fail,"  Ac. 


THE  LATTER  END.  399 

After  this,  all  his  family  being  assembled,  the  two 
ministers,  Messrs.  Clay  and  Kevern,  came,  and  the 
solemn  ordinance  was  administered.  During  the 
service  Mr.  Budgett's  mind  seemed  fully  absorbed 
by  a  sense  of  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion.  He 
several  times  added  his  loud  '  amen'  to  the  peti- 
tions  presented  to  the  throne  of  grace,  especially 
during  the  concluding  prayer.  The  service  was 
greatly  abbreviated  in  consequence  of  his  extreme 
weakness,  and  it  was  feared,  brief  as  it  was,  that  his 
feeble  frame  would  be  exhausted  by  the  effort  re- 
quired ;  but  after  its  conclusion,  the  rapture  of  his 
spirit  seemed  to  give  strength  to  his  body,  and  he 
requested  a  hymn  to  be  sung.  On  a  fear  being 
expressed  lest  it  should  prove  too  much  for  him,  he 
reiterated  with  great  ardour,  '  Sing,  sing.'  The 
Rev.  Charles  Clay  then  gave  out  three  verses  of  the 
hymn  commencing — 

"  Behold  the  Saviour  of  mankind," 

during  which  time  Mr,  Budgett,  seated  on  the  side 
of  his  bed,  his  countenance  beaming  with  almost 
angelic  joy,  his  eyes  streaming,  his  chin  quivering 
with  emotion,  and  his  hands  upraised,  to  the  aston- 
ishment of  all  joined  most  heartily  in  the  singing, — 
reminding  one  of  some  old  prophet,  or  the  patriarch 
Jacob,  surrounded  by  his  family  giving  them  his 
last  blessing.  He  -appeared  in  a  perfect  ecstasy  of 
joy  and  triumph,  and  continued  to  utter  the  most 
joyful  expressions  of  faith  in  Christ  and  hope  of 
heaven. 


400  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

"  Some  of  his  expressions  were  to  the  following 
effect : — '  O,  I  see  such  a  fulness  of  merit  in  the 
atonement  of  my  Saviour.'  '  I  am  a  poor  vile  sin- 
ner, but  the  blood  of  Jesus  avails  even  for  me.' 
'  I  have  been  unfaithful ;  my  only  regret  is  my  own 
unfaithfulness.  If  I  could  live  over  again,  I  think 
I  should  be  more  faithful ;  but  that  is  all  past  and 
forgiven.' 

"  He  then  quoted  his  favourite  verse, — 

'  Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest,'  etc. 

and  said,  '  There  I  rest ;  Satan  cannot  drive  mc 
from  this.  For  many  days  he  has  not  been  per- 
mitted to  molest  me,'  and  then  described  with  much 
energy  his  last  conflict  with  the  adversary  of  souls. 
His  son  James  said,  'We  shall  all  soon  meet  in 
heaven.'  'Yes,'  he  replied,  (looking  round  upon 
his  family,)  '  yes,  thank  God !  He  has  not  left  a 
wish  ungratified,  a  desire  unsatisfied,  either  tem- 
poral or  spiritual.' 

"He  also  said,  amongst  several  other  similar  ex- 
clamations, '  This  is  the  happiest  day  of  my  life — 
the  happiest  hour.  I  am  ready  to  go  this  moment, 
or  ready  to  stay.  0,  how  would  I  preach  if  I 
could  preach  now !'  He  bade  his  ministers  a  very 
affectionate  farewell,  and  on  one  of  them  repeating 
the  lines, — 

'  I  the  chief  of  sinners  am, 
But  Jesus  died  for  me,' 

he  fervently  responded  to  the  sentiment,  and  added, 
■  I never  asked  for  joy,  I  ahvays  thought  myself  un- 


THE  LATTER  END.  401 

worthy  of  it ;  but  He  has  given  me  more  than  I 
asked.'  It  being  saidj '  He  givetb  exceeding  abund- 
antly above  all  we  ask  or  think,'  he  replied,  'Thank 
God— thank  God !' 

"After  the  ministers  had  retired  he  requested 
that  another  hymn  might  be  sung ;  on  Avhich  Ed- 
win's favourite  being  selected — 

'  How  happy  every  child  of  grace,' 

he  said,  '  Yes,  and  Edwin  will  join  us.'  He  again 
united  most  heartily  in  the  singing,  and  proposed 
to  have  another  hymu,  when  it  was  again  suggested 
it  might  prove  injurious  to  him.  'O  no,'  he  re- 
plied, 'there  is  no  chance  of  my  recovery,  nothing 
will  hurt  me  now  ;  I  am  going  home ;  nothing  can 
hurt  me  now,  and  I  thank  God  I  am  ready  to  go 
this  moment,  or  am  willing  to  wait  longer.  If  it 
were  put  to  my  choice  now,  whether  I  would  live 
for  a  few  years  longer  to  enjoy  increased  riches  and 
multiplied  friends,  or  whether  I  would  go  home  at 
once,  I  would  no  more  choose  than  I  would  go  into 
a  foreign  country  that  I  know  nothing  about.'  Then 
turning  to  his  son  Samuel, — '  Samuel,  be  faithful, 
my  boy  ;  I  could  have  wished  to  live  a  little  longer 
to  watch  your  progress.  Preach  Christ ;  let  nothing 
discourage  you.  You  have  not  seen  your  best  days, 
only  follow  the  light  imparted.  Let  your  eye  be 
single,  and  your  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light.' 

"  Addressing  himself  to  Mrs.  ,  he  assured 

her  of  the  happiness  he  had  in  his  own  family,  the 
pleasure  he  felt  in  being  connected  with  her  family, 

26 


402  THE  SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

his  first  thoughts  on  seeing  her,  &c,  &c. ;  hut  his 
own  expressions  cannot  be  remembered :  indeed, 
but  a  faint  idea  can  be  conveyed  of  that  solemn 
but  joyful  hour.  Altogether  it  was  such  a  scene  as 
is  seldom  witnessed  on  earth.  It  was  the  full 
triumph  of  faith.  An  impression  was  made  on  the 
minds  of  all  present  which  can  never  be  obliterated. 
The  language  of  all  seemed  to  be,  '  How  dreadful 
is  this  place !  this  is  none  other  but  the  house  of 
God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven.' 

"  Tuesday,  the  22d. — '  0,'  he  said,  '  I  want  rest  ; 
this  pain  and  suffering  make    me  long  for  rest.' 

Mrs.  J said,  'This  will  no  doubt  make 

the  heavenly  rest  more  sweet.'     '  O  yes,'  he  replied, 

'  "  Sweet  as  home  to  pilgrims  weary, 

Light  to  newly-open'd  eyes, 
Flowing  springs  in  deserts  dreary, 
Is  the  rest  the  cross  supplies  ; 
All  who  taste  it,  shall  to  life  immortal  rise."  ' 

He  then  said, '  I  believe  that  had  I  but  been  faithful 
my  life  would  have  been  spared.  O,  my  dear  friend, 
take  care  to  make  sure  work  for  heaven ;  attend  to 
the  most  important  end  of  life;  remember  it  is 
said,  "  Seek  ye  first,"  &c.  I  am  sure  religion  will 
never  make  a  man  less  successful  in  business.  No, 
I  believe  he  who  has  the  one  thing  needful  will 
excel  the  most  in  business.' 

"  Wednesday  he  inquired  of  F ,  '  What  day 

is  it?'  She  replied,  'Wednesday.'  On  which  ho 
said,  '  But  what  day  of  the  month  is  it  ?'  On  his 
being  told,  the   twenty-third,  he   observed,  'Ah, 


THE  LATTER  END.  403 

F ,  the  first  week  in  May  you  will  all  be  in 

deep  mourning ;  yes,  by  the  first  week  in  May  you 
will  all  be  in  deep  mourning.'  In  the  afternoon  he 
was  carried  down  stairs,  and,  seated  in  the  pony 
carriage,  rode  round  his  grounds.  He  was  very  ob- 
servant; and  seeing  some  docks  in  the  grass  said, 
'  These  should  not  be  ;  after  the  next  rain  get  half- 
a-dozen  men,  and  have  them  up.     You  know  the 

way,  J .'     On  passing,  he  pointed,  and  said, 

'  That  tree  bears  a  beautiful  yellow  pear ;  it  is  a 
good  sort ;  you  notice  them,  but  I  shall  not  be  here 
to  taste  them.'  The  carriage  being  stopped  that  he 
might  enjoy  the  fresh  air,  he  took  the  opportunity 

of  speaking  to  L ,  and  urged  upon  him  the  great 

importance  of  making  sure  work  for  eternity — 
speaking  to  him  with  that  energy  which  showed 
how  deeply  he  felt  the  importance  of  the  subject. 

Then  turning  to  J ,  he  said,  '  I  've  been  talking 

to  L ;  I  feel  anxious  that  this  affliction  may  be 

blessed  to  him :  it  has  been  to  me,  and  I  want  it 

to  be  to  him  also.'    On  returning,  he  said  to  J , 

'These  fields  look  pleasant,  don't  they,  J ?     I 

am  glad  to  go  and  leave  all  so  comfortable  for  you 
to  enjoy ;  but  remember  the  end.  0  let  a  right  use 
be  made  of  the  enjoyment.' 

"  In  the  evening  he  saw  Mr.  J B ,  and 

after  speaking  of  some  temporal  and  pecuniary 
matters,  he  expressed  his  gratitude  to  God  for  the 
comfortable  circumstances  in  which  he  should  leave 
his  family.  .  .  .  He  then  spoke  of  the  different  ap- 
pearance the  garden,  grounds,  and  fields  presented 


404  THE   SUCCESSFUL  MEECHANT. 

from  what  they  did  when  first  he  came  to  Kings- 
wood  and  from  the  time  when  he  bought  the  land, 
and  of  the  goodness  of  God  who  had  enabled  him 
to  make  such  an  improvement.  He  described  the 
wilderness  of  spelter  works  and  cinders  which  covered 
the  ground,  and  said,  'Often  when  I  was  appren- 
ticed to  your  uncle  H ,  have  I  come  down  here 

on  a  Sunday  after  chapel,  and,  sitting  on  a  flag  be- 
tween the  old  walls,  renewed  my  covenant  with 
God  whilst  his  love  was  abundantly  shed  abroad  in 
my  soul.  I  used  often  literally  to  stop  my  ears  as  I 
came  from  chapel,  lest  any  sound  should  draw  off  my 
mind  from  the  sermon  I  had  heard ;  and  after  think- 
ing it  all  over  as  I  sat  on  the  stone,  I  committed  to 
memory  some  piece  of  poetry  out  of  one  of  the  old 
Methodist  Magazines  every  Sunday,  and  little  did  I 
then  think  that  land  would  one  day  become  my 
own  and  be  so  altered.' 

"  Thursday,  April  24th,  he  saw  Mr.  P ,  and 

said,  '  Ah,  we  cannot  always  have  health  ;  no  man 
can  always  have  health.  But  it  is  a  mercy  to  feel 
these  light  afflictions  are  but  for  a  moment,  and  will 
work  out  for  us  a  more  exceeding  weight  of  glory, 
whilst  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen, 
but  at  those  which  are  not  seen.  Yes,  we  must 
look  at  those  which  are  not  seen.  We  must  be 
earnest  in  the  pursuit  of  them.  O,  my  dear  brother, 
I  have  thought  of  you  very  much ;  I  have  thought 
of  you  with  an  intensity  of  feeling.  You  are  kind, 
honourable,  and  well-disposed ;  but  I  feel  in  look- 
ing back  that  I  have  not  always  possessed  that 


THE  LATTER  END.  405 

spirituality  of  mind  which  I  should  :  you  have  seen 
the  want  of  it  in  me,  and  I  ask  your  forgiveness. 
I  entreat  you  now  to  seek  religion.  "  Seek  ye  first 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteousness,  and  all 
these  things  shall  he  added  unto  you."  Without  it 
life  is  lost ;  there  is  no  enjoyment  without  it.  0, 
seek  for  it  at  once!  Now  is  the  accepted  time; 
now  is  the  day  of  salvation.  Come  this  very  day ; 
let  us  at  once  say,  "  I  am  determined  to  come  to 
the  Saviour.  Lord,  receive  me  now  as  a  poor  sinner. 
I  come  that  I  may  now  be  saved;  if  I  perish  it 
shall  be  entreating  for  pardon."  O,  take  my  ad- 
vice, do  let  us  be  in  earnest ;  both  of  us  have  been 
too  intent  upon  seeking  this  world's  good,  now  let 
us  seek  earnestly  for  that  which  alone  will  save. 
To-morrow  may  be  too  late;  to-morrow  we  may 
lose  our  reason.  O  may  you  come  to-day  and  seek 
happiness  while  it  may  be  found.  This  may  be 
your  last  opportunity.  Then  come  to  the  Saviour 
now.  There  is  no  time  like  the  present.  In  a  few 
weeks  we  shall  be  united  or  separated  forever :  it  is 
a  solemn  thought.  The  Lord  bless  you  and  your 
family,  and  secure  you  a  lot  among  the  blest! 
Everything  else  is  vanity.  I  thought  four  days  ago 
that  I  was  dying.  I  then  felt  that  there  is  in  re- 
ligion— in  the  love  and  knowledge  of  God,  a  reality, 
a  power  to  support  in  the  hour  of  death.  I  could 
say,— 

"  There  is  niy  house  and  portion  fair ; 
My  treasure  and  my  heart  are  there, 
And  my  abuling  home  ; 


406  THE   SUCCESSFUL   MERCHANT. 

For  me  my  elder  brethren  stay, 
And  angels  beckon  me  away, 
And  Jesus  bids  me  come." 

It  is  quite  my  desire  to  go,  not  because  of  my  faith- 
fulness, for  I  feel  I  have  not  been  faithful,  but  I  fly 
to  Christ  for  refuge — there  I  can  rest  and  feel  saved. 
You  and  I  may  both  rest  on  that  foundation.'    Then 

looking  earnestly  at  Mr.  P ,  he  inquired,  '  Have 

you,  my  dear  brother,  an  assurance  of  your  title  to 
heaven  ?  Do  you  feel  that  should  death  come  now 
you  have  a  mansion  above  ?  Are  you  now  assured 
of  it  ?  0,  remain  not  without  it :  we  may  get  it 
to-day  ;  we  may  obtain  it  noto.  O,  seek  for  it ;  re- 
member, "  Him  that  cometh  unto  me  I  will  in  no 
wise  cast  out."  O,  what  a  blessing !  I  should  like 
to  pray  with  you  for  a  few  minutes;  but  am  too 
weak.     Good-bye  !  may  we  all  meet  at  last.' 

"  Saturday,  the  26th. — Hearing  a  loud  peal  of 
thunder,  he  said,  '  Hush  !  'tis  the  voice  of  a  Father 
— 'tis  the  voice  of  a  God !'     In  the  evening  Mr. 

Budgett  saw  Mr.  S and  Mr.  P ,  [I  think, 

two  of  his  travellers.]     Mr.  P told  him  many 

had  asked  kindly  for  him,  on  which  Mr.  Budgett 
observed,  'Remember  me  kindly  to  them  all.  I 
thank  God  all  is  right,  "  not  by  works  of  righteous- 
ness that  we  have  done,"  &c,  but  of  his  boundless 
love  to  me  a  poor  sinner, — 

"  Jesus,  my  great  High  Priest,"  &c. 

I  rest  there  for  pardon,  purity,  and  heaven.  I  long 
to  go ;  happy  should  I  be  if  I  were  to  go  this  night. 


THE  LATTER  END.  407 

Let  us  remember,  my  dear  friends,  earth  is  but  a 
scale  to  heaven;  buying  and  selling  is  of  no  im- 
portance except  as  they  bear  reference  to  eternity. 
The  Lord  make  you  fit  and  prepare  you  for  it.'  On 
one  of  them  saying,  '  You  will  soon  reach  the  de- 
sired haven,'  Mr.  Budgett  remarked,  '  O,  yes,  I  an- 
ticipate it  with  pleasure,  thankfulness,  and  gratitude. 
Such  is  human  life.  I  never  expected  to  suffer 
thus ;  but  there  has  been  great  mercy  shown  to  me 
even  in  this  state.  I  would  not  choose — I  must  not 
choose ;  but  if  I  were  obliged  to  make  the  choice,  I 
should  say  it  were  better  for  me  to  be  dissolved. 
Heaven  is  my  home ;  I  am  travelling  there.     Lord, 

thine  only  will  be  done.'     Mr.  P observed, 

'  How  the  power  of  God  is  exemplified  in  such  com- 
plete submission  to  the  divine  will !'  On  which  Mr. 
Budgett  said,  '  It  is  the  work  of  God ;  it  is  the  sim- 
ple work  of  the  Spirit  in  answer  to  prayer.  I  am 
astonished,  because  at  the  beginning  of  my  illness  I 
was  fearful  of  death,  and  more  astonished  because 
of  my  unfaithfulness.  Who  would  not  trust 
Thee?— 

"  0  God,  of  good  the'  imfathom'd  sea ! 
Who  would  not  give  his  heart  to  thee  ? 

Who  would  not  love  thee  with  his  might  ? 
O  Jesus,  lover  of  mankind  ! 
Who  would  not  his  whole  soul  and  mind 

With  all  his  strength  to  thee  unite?" 

Jesus,  thou  art  merciful;  every  good  thing  comes 

from  God.    Mine  is  a  merciful  affliction.'    Mr.  S 

said, '  Perhaps  it  may  be  intei'esting  to  you  to  know 


408  THE  SUCCESSFUL  MERCHANT. 

that  your  visit  last  summer  was  made  useful.     Pei 
haps  you  may  remember,  after  exhorting  the  people 
in  the  school-room  at  Aberystwith,  you  distributed 
some  little  books,  and  amongst  the  rest,  some  enti- 
tled, "  Come  to  Jesus."     A  lady,  who  had  listened 

to  a  part  of  your  discourse,  met  with  Mr.  W , 

(the  preacher,)  and  begged  that  he  would  procure 
one  for  her ;  he  did  so,  and  as  far  as  I  can  trace  the 
result,  it  was  made  a  great  blessing  to  her,  and 
proved  the  turning  point  in  her  religious  experience.' 
Mr.  Budgett  said,  '  The  Lord  bo  praised !  That 
evening  I  was  under  a  cloud;  I  could  not  have 
imagined  there  would  have  been  any  such  result; 
I  did  not  appear  to  speak  under  the  influence  of  the 
Spirit.  He  did  give  me  a  talent  for  preaching,  a 
persuasive  talent,  if  I  had  only  used  it  aright ;  but 
I  rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God.  O,  my  dear 
friends,  try  to  get  all  Nelson-street,  all  that  are  un- 
der your  care,  converted  to  God.  I  have  been 
guilty  of  my  brother's  blood;  but  my  sons  will  sup- 
ply my  lack.  I  am  aware  that  business  is  very  im- 
portant; but  compared  with  religion  it  is  but  as 
dung  and  dross.' 

"On  Monday  morning,  he  said  to  Miss  B , 

'  You  will   find  a  couple  of  books  in  my  drawer 

with  Miss 's  name  in  them.     I  wish  when  I 

am  gone  you  would  send  them  to  her,  and  also  one 
of  those  little  books  "  Come  to  Jesus,"  or  else  "The 
Sinner's  Friend."  Give  her  my  love  ;  tell  her  I  am 
gone  to  heaven,  and  I  hope  she  will  meet  me  there. 
Tell  her  that  profession  without  possession  is  of  no 


THE  LATTER  END.  409 

value ;  that  without  a  real  change  of  heart,  a  firm 
reliance  on  the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ,  she  can- 
not be  saved.  I  have  had  many  conversations  with 
lier,  but  I  always  thought  she  was  quite  in  the  dark 
on  religious  subjects.  Now  will  you  take  her  into 
your  charge,  and  either  see  or  write  to  her,  and  give 
her  my  message  ?' 

"  The  last  evening  of  his  life  he  saw  Mr.  W- 


xfe  ui  "io  '"^  "w  °",T  ""■  "  > 

who  only  remained  with  him  about  three  minutes. 

Mr.  Budgett,  however,  used  that  short  time  to  the 
best  purpose ;  he  said,  '  I  am  going  the  way  of  all 
flesh ;  but  bless  God,  I  'm  ready.  I  trust  in  the 
merits  of  my  Redeemer.'  Then  alluding  to  the 
near  prospect  of  his  dissolution  he  said,  '  I  care  not 
when,  or  where,  or  how  :  glory  be  to  God  !'  This 
was  the  last  time  he  was  heard  to  refer  to  it.  During 
the  night  he  appeared  rather  resfless ;  but  most  of 
his  waking  hours  were  employed  in  repeating  por- 
tions of  Scripture,  hymns,  &c.  The  last  he  dis- 
tinctly repeated  was, — 

'■  With  glorious  clouds  eucompass'd  round, 

Whom  angels  dimly  see, 
Will  the  Unsearchable  be  found, 

Or  God  appear  to  me  ?' 

In  the  morning  he  sent  for  his  daughter,  and  on 
her  entering  said,  '  I  'm  glad  you  are  come,  I  am  so 
glad  to  see  you.      You  understand  me?     To  Miss 

B he  said,  '  O  !  sister  Elizabeth,  I  had  one  or 

two  things  to  say  to  you.  I  want  you  to  give  five 
sovereigns  for  me  between  four  persons.'  He  then 
mentioned  by  name  three  persons  of  his  class  who 


410  THE   SUCCESSFUL    MERCHANT. 


were  much  afflicted ;  the  fourth  name  he  could  not 
recall,  but  said,  '  I  'm  very  weak,  I  shall  think  of  it 
bye-and-bye.'  His  medical  attendant  then  saw  him, 
and  stated  it  as  his  opinion  that  he  would  most 
probably  linger  for  many  weeks.  He  felt  strange 
and  soon  after  was  removed  into  bed ;  but  he  still 
complained  of  a  strange  feeling,  and  wished  the 
surgeon  to  be  sent  for,  which  was  accordingly  done. 
He  sat  with  him  for  some  time,  but  the  pulse  was 
still  regular.  He  walked  towards  the  fire-place,  but 
had  not  been  there  a  minute,  when  Mr.  Budgett 
exclaimed, '  O  dear !'  and  on  turning  round,  he  per- 
ceived a  change  had  taken  place.  The  bell  ringing 
violently,  immediately  all  the  members  of  the  family 
who  were  at  home  assembled  in  his  room,  and  found 
him  supported  in  Martha's  arms,  his  heart  throbbing 
violently.  The  Blood  rushed  to  his  head,  his  face 
changed  to  purple,  his  eyes  were  half  open,  but  he 
was  apparently  unconscious.  They  watched — his 
eyes  gently  closed,  and  without  a  struggle  or  a 
sound,  his  spirit  winged  its  way  to  that  haven  he 
had  so  long  desired  to  reach ! 

'  They  look'd : 

He  was  dead ; 

His  spirit  had  fled  : — 
Painless  and  swift  as  his  own  desire. 

The  soul  undress'd 

From  her  mortal  vest, 
Had  stepp'd  in  her  car  of  heavenly  fire, 

And  proved  how  bright 

Were  the  realms  of  light, 

Bursting  at  once  upon  the  sight.'  " 


THE  LATTER  END.  411 

Farewell,  patient  reader,  our  task  is  done  !  May 
God  bless  thee !  May  he  give  thee  bright  days, 
tranquil  nights,  and  a  happy  end !  And  when  he 
opens  the  great  book  wherein  all  our  lives  are 
written,  O  may  it  contain  a  good  account  of  thee ! 


THE    END. 


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We  hail  its  appearance  with  great  pleasure,  and  we  commend  it 
as  one  of  the  neatest  and  most  convenient  pocket  diaries  that 
has  been  published. —  Western  Christian  Advocate. 


*A      000  192  965 


